My Life.. My Thoughts..

Checked my blog......

2011-09-06T23:11:00.009+05:30

...... after a looooooooooooong time today. I know it’s been ages since I posted something here.. life’s been quite hectic and busy… I have been just so busy living my life that it doesn’t look like the posts here are ever gonna catch up with it.. especially with Me being the sooper lazy Me that I am… :-) But then who’s complaining… it’s not like I have ppl waiting with baited breaths for updates to my blog.. :-D

Anyways realized I should put atleast something up.. so this post is just to break the ‘No-Posts’ monotony……. Don’t have anything to write about or come to think of it.. I have too many things I want to write about but just don’t know where to start from. I guess I will need some more time to figure it out.. till then I will go back to just…. living… and loving… and pampering… and being pampered.. :-)

PS: Btw have slowly realized M does remember and keep all the small silly declarations that he makes.. I should stop laughing at him when he makes them.. :-) Can’t wait to see him in his new Avataar.

Mrityunjay - Review

2011-03-31T09:16:00.003+05:30

Finally I have finished reading ‘Mrityunjay’ – a novel by Shivaji Savant. It’s based on the life of Karna – a great warrior and the ultimate hero or shall I say tragic hero from Mahabharata. (Ashwani had gifted me this book on my birthday.. he actually took the effort of mailing me this all the way from Delhi.. he knew I wanted to read this one after hearing so much about it. Thanks dear.. :-) ) In literal terms, Mrityunjay means a person who has conquered death.

Prior to reading this, my interpretation of Karna, like many of us, was based on the DD serial, Mahabharata. He along with Krishna has always been my favourite character in Mahabharata. Out of the Pandavas, I only like Arjun as he was very focused and had single minded dedication. Though unlike Karna, he was always guided by great teachers/mentors.

After reading this book, my love for the character of Karna has been reaffirmed. I learned about many little known incidents in his life and how each incident guided and shaped his future actions. Although he was a Kshatriya and son of Kunti & Sun God, he was unaware of it and always lived under the shadow of being a Charioteer’s son. All through his life, he strives and yearns to be recognized as a great warrior based on his capability and not be called just a charioteer’s son coz he was born into it. The book has captured Karna’s feelings, his pain & sufferings, his courage & character really well. The book is divided into sections with each section dedicated to an imp character in Karna’s life. Each character is telling things as first person.

Karna was born with a divine set of earrings and shield in his body. Though unaware of being the son of Sun God, he had a strange attraction towards him since his childhood. He was a great devotee of the Sun God and made him his Guru. He found himself different from other members in his community and hence always struggled to adjust in it. He loved his family a lot – his father, his loving mother, Radhamata, or his dedicated younger brother, Shona or his dutiful wife, Vrushali and their kids. Their love and dedication for Karna was also complete. All of them loved and dotted over Karna and were loved unconditionally in return. The love story of Karna and Vrushali is so delicate and endearing. I didn’t even know Karna was married that too a love marriage.. :-). Vrushali was just the perfect partner for a loving and generous person like Karna. She gave with ultimate abandon and love. Then there’s the love that Karna has for his younger brother Shona and the faith with which Shona reveres Karna which are quite touching. It was wonderful reading about many such little known facets of his personality. Made him all the more humane. :-)

When he went to Hastinapur with his father to get training under Guru Drona , he was shunned by everyone except Duryodhana. This acceptance from Duryodhana and recognition of his capability, led to a strong bond and friendship between them even though they had very different temperament. Even though Karna was a better warrior and archer, everyone appreciated Arjun more as he was of royal lineage. Drona and many others were biased towards Arjun and this was a source of great rivalry between the two.

Karna was humiliated time and again by many people like Drona, Draupadi, Pandavas, even once by Bhishma Pitamah – for being a charioteer’s son. These were source of much disquiet and hurt in Karna’s life. Despite all this, Karna was compassionate. He had great character, was a benevolent individual and king, committed to his words, an ideal son, husband, brother and friend. Despite being a great warrior, he was peace loving in nature. He is famous for his benevolent nature. Here’s one incident to attest to it - even though he knew before hand that Lord Indra was coming in disguise to take away his protective shield and earrings from him to save Arjun, he happily gives it to Indra as alms. While on his deathbed, he removed his gold teeth and gave it to a dead solder’s poor father so that it could be used to make funeral arrangements for his son. No wonder he is called ‘Daanveer Karna’.

Karna also had great love and devotion for Lord Krishna. Just before the war of Mahabharata, Krishna told him the reality of his birth. Both Krishna and Kunti requested him to join Pandavas and rule over being the eldest and best of Pandavas. He however rejected this offer as he could not abandon his friend, Duryodhana who supported him throughout his life. When Kunti asks him to spare life of her 5 sons, he promises to spare all his sons except Arjun . So that at the end of it, Kunti will be left with 5 sons including either Arjun or Karna.

Karna was the ultimate tragic hero of the Mahabharata, and the man who, after Bhishma Pitamah, should have been the real claimant to the throne of Hastinapur. His yearnings and dilemmas have been captured really well by the author. All in all, it is an awesome book which has been very beautifully written. A must read for sure

Political Rants..

2011-02-03T21:15:00.013+05:30

Mood: Frustrated. A Ranting post ahead... no solutions, (maybe) biased reasoning... just rants..

The political scenario in our country today is depressing to say the least. The Congress prides in calling itself ‘The party of the Poor’. This is one statement that even Rahul Gandhi keeps on making in each and all of his political rallies’. Some 63 years back, it was understandable but now it sounds pathetic. After ruling India for more than 50 years or so, Congress should actually feel ashamed of this rather than being Proud. They have still not been able to help the poor or make their situation better. Take for example Amethi, I don’t think anyone else apart from Congress has ever won from that seat. Its supposed to be the stronghold of Congress with Priyanka, Rahul and Sonia going on tours frequently. Irony is - it’s still one of the underdeveloped regions in our country. An area which has given us such strong nationwide politicians (but no leader) and PMs, is still an underdeveloped area. It speaks volumes about the real motive of the Gandhi clan. If they really wanted to develop it, I am not sure it would have been that Herculean an effort for them. But then maybe it is.. guess we will never know. (It’s another thing that they still are voted back to power term after term :-( )

I recently read an article in DNA newspaper. It had some interesting view points on how dynastic politics is mainly about protecting ill-gotten wealth. I could not have agreed more. With information about how many Indians are having money in Swiss bank accounts, this UPA govt is displaying an amazing apathy in trying to get the facts and reveal the details. We are not even trying to get the money back. The callousness visible at the highest level of governance is disturbing. Well with the amount of years congress has ruled India and the scams that have unearthed, its pretty easy to guess that 90% of those would be somehow connected with Congress. I won’t be surprised if each of the Gandhis has an account there.

This is the first time (at least to my knowledge) when there have been so many HUGE SCAMs that have come to public notice and the PM of our country has not even bothered to say a word on it. Forget an address to the nation, he has not made even a reassuring statement. This is highly BELITTLING to the nation & people he represents. The Don’t-Care attitude by our nation’s top leadership is Shameful. (Again since we vote them back again and again, guess we are the real culprits)

The way we are treated by our leadership is totally not done. Look at the most recent case involving Indian students in US. Few Indian students at TVU have been tagged like criminals. Even if we agree that from a US law perspective what they did was ok, but its not the US govt. who should worry about Indians. It’s the Indian govt. who should think about us. Our govt. should have made a noise, got the tags removed and got the students back to India. I really don’t know what we are waiting for? Whatever maybe the case; it’s really praiseworthy how US defends and supports its citizens. Look at the way they are pushing Pak to release Raymond Davis even though he committed a crime. (I am not defending US here as the person is actually guilty, I am only commending the fact that US protects its citizens and is accountable to them) Contrast this with the kind of statements our Foreign Minister makes in any situation involving Indians. First time, he says its ‘unacceptable’. Next time u hear him, he bows down and says we need to abide by the law of the host country. Be it Australia or US.

There are N number of cases like this. One thing is for sure Congress has been a lousy opposition party and is even worse when it is in power. At least other parties were better while in power. Maybe coz they were novice and didn't know how to play politics like our oldest and most experienced party does.. Anyways let's hope we will get rid of such politicians sooner than later..

New Year @ Home

2011-01-18T22:30:00.007+05:30

It’s said “well begun is half done”!! This year has started with all the right notes. We had bought a flat last year and on the 1st day of this very new year.. we moved into it. Our own brand new home.. :-)

There were a few minor hiccups at the beginning .. with our families saying just 10 days before the ‘Griha Pravesh' to wait for 15 more days and go after ‘Maker Sakranti’.. but we had given notice to our owner that we would be vacating our rented house on 1st.. he had even finalized the new renter.. this made it really impossible to delay it further.. And then both our dads came to our rescue.. Being the sweethearts that they are both my father and father in law said to go ahead on 1st itself; this being the 1st day of the new year and a Saturday on that.. nothing could be better.. Since we had already done a puja last year, even M and I felt good to move in and had no reservations about the date. M believes that if something good is happening on a day, it must surely be a good day. If it wasn't, that good thing would not be happening in the first place!! I totally agree with him!! (this is a rare case.. as in me agreeing with M.. :D)

So finally we shifted on 1st.. it was a nice sunny day (it is very very cold this time around in Pune and even a small glimpse of sun is most welcome). When the movers & packers guy came and started packing, I realized we have hell lot of stuff at our home. Removing all the non-essentials out of this was my first To-Do task in the new home. By the time we shifted all our stuff to the new place, it was 7pm. While this was going on, the electrician had also come and had set up fans, tubelights, etc. With all the basic things done, we were Set!! (for the time being.. ;-))

As luck would have it, there was a person with the Movers & Packers guys who turned out to be well qualified Brahmin shashtri; he even has a degree in it. He told that this 1st was a really auspicious occasion to shift in and he has already performed few ‘Griha pravesh pujas’ in the morning. He agreed to do a havan at our home too.. So M went with him and got all the Puja samagrees.. by the time we did the Puja, bhoomi pujan, havan and sat for dinner, it was already well past midnight.. :-) We had to wake up early the next day as we were going on a trip; so we dragged our tired bodies to bed and dozed off. Thus ended our first day at home.

Even with all the running around we did, we were pretty much set on the first day itself. It was an amazing feeling.. being at our own home. :-) I still can’t believe we bought a flat here. It’s been 1.5 years since we moved to Pune.. With no plans whatsoever of settling here; we now have a home here.. Go figure!! :-D Life really has very different plans for you!! They may not be same as yours.. but many times they are even better than yours. :-)

Wish you all a wonderful year ahead!! Have fun!!

If I were..

2010-12-10T11:47:00.003+05:30

Another tag from Amu.. :) If it wasn't for Amu and her tags I guess I would not have even half of the posts in my blog.. :D

If I were a month - April: A little of this is because I was born in April :) but mostly coz I feel my most active (or shall I say least lazy) in April. I do not suffer from cold during this season due to the warm temp. I can eat as many ice creams, mangoes and cold drinks that I like without worrying about falling sick. And how can I forget chilled water melons!! :)

If I were a day of the week - Saturday: I just love the way Saturday starts.. lazily lying on the bed.. dragging myself out and preparing some nice brunch. Reading paper in my sweet time.. just relaxing. The morning sets the tone for the entire day.. :D Even on the days that we plan to go for a trip or smthg on a saturday, its more of a relaxed and lazy getaway!!

If I were a time of day - Night: I feel my most active self during the night time.. maybe coz I was born after mid-night..;-). My mind just gets filled up with so many ideas (most of them crazy) during the night.. and everything that I am supposed to do and should do, I remember during the night time only.

If I were a season - Rains: I love the rainy season. Its one of my favourites. Everything gets washed in the rain water and looks all fresh and full of life. Even though i get sick pretty often in rains, i love getting drenched in it. You can savour the real taste of hot tea and pakoras only when its raining. :D

If I were a planet - Saturn it is for me too. As Amu mentioned, its feared in the Hindu pantheon, however He is my rashi God and I have always found him generous and kind.

If I were a sea animal - No idea..I think I prefer being a human being. :D

If I were a direction - East

If I were a piece of furniture - Bed: A lazy person like me can not like anything more than a Bed. :D

If I were a liquid - Water: The elixir of life. To be more specific, fresh lime water or roohafzah. I just love both of them.

If I were a tree - Neem tree: When I was a kid, we used to go to my maternal uncle's home during summer vacation. There were 3 really big neem trees in our front garden and I used to love it. It used to provide really nice cool shade during the summer and the breeze u feel while sitting beneath the tree was really fresh and rejuvenating.

If I were a tool - Scissors: Again I will agree with Amu, it has to be scissors. This is one tool I use pretty often.

If I were an element - Fire - from the five elements.

If I were a gemstone - Ruby

If I were a musical instrument - A violin: Love the soulful and melancholy notes which come out of it. Touches my heart.

If I were a color - Red. :D

If I were an emotion - Love.

If I were a fruit - Mangoes for me too.. :)

If I were a sound - I like the faint sound of a ringing bell (temple sort of)… also the splattering sound that rain makes, etc

If I were a car - Ford Mustang: A red colored convertible one, to be more specific. :D

If I were food - Rice: I love all the rice preparations.

If I were a taste - Salty & Tangy: Both of them together are my favourite tastes.

If I were a scent - Scent of fresh lime: I love all citrus smell.

If I were a pair of shoes - Sneakers for me too..

If I were a bird - A cute little sparrow. :)

October reading..

2010-10-31T21:36:00.005+05:30

After a long long time, I am once again soaking myself in another ‘elixir’ of life: - Books and I am just quenching my thirst a little too fast.. :) In the last 1 week, I have finished 3 novels. All 3 are love stories – a co-incidence let me add.. :)

PS. I love you – Cecelia Ahern: I had already seen the movie and loved it. Had heard about the book, but don’t know why I did not try to find the book or read it. Anyways I bought it during my last visit to landmark and I was very surprised to find that the book and movie are quite different. The main plot is same - a young widow tries to start living again with the help of letters that her husband wrote before dying. There are many incidents in the book which is also in the movie however I found the treatment of the movie very different. The book is more subtle and the emotions more real. The movie was a little larger than life. (I still like the movie though.. Gerard Butler and Hillary Swank rock!!) The book is easier to believe; the movie is more ‘romantic-romantic’. I guess most people like larger than life romances.. preferring it to the more subtle ‘love’. The movie score there. As the norm is the book is better than the movie. Though I have liked them both. I wish I had read the book first.

Anything for you, Ma’am – Tushar Raheja: This is a light read; you can make that out from the punch line ‘The love story of an IITian’.. :-D.. The author writes well, being humorous at times, however the problem with the book is that it has too many great co-incidences making it way too filmy to be true. The author has tried to acknowledge it by calling it the work of ‘Mr. Fate’; however it’s still all too much. Overall it’s a book you can read (only if you must) in between some heavy reading. You would not be missing anything if you skip it altogether.

At first sight – Nicholas Sparks: This is the first time I am reading a Nicholas Sparks novel. Have already seen 3 movies based on his work – The Notebook, Message in a bottle & A walk to remember; each a beautiful love story. :) As the name suggests, ‘At first sight’ is also a love story. I started reading it expecting another warm love story, however the detail on how exactly Jeremy & Lexie (the lead couple) fall in love is sadly missing (I learnt later that this novel is a sequel to ‘True Believer’, where they actually meet and fall in love). As I continued reading, this one seemed more and more like a suspense novel. Halfway through it, I started doubting the choice of the book title - ‘At first sight’ did not seem appropriate at all. I personally do not believe in love at first sight. Its more of attraction at first sight and not love.. As two people interact with each other this attraction may eventually turn into love. Here both Jeremy and Lexie fall in love at first sight and decide to marry soon after. Later on all the doubts surface -maybe they have rushed into things without knowing much about each other, there were trust issues, adjustment issues, et all.. There was a mystery also which made me curious. The novel had started with some crisis that Jeremy was facing and I was interested in learning what it exactly was. As the story unfolded, I was hooked into it and by the time I finished the book, I was literally crying. The ending is tragic and I felt so sad for everyone; for what each of them missed. It is a beautifully written book. The dilemma that a couple can face, the ups and downs of a relationship and the effort that is taken to make it work has all been described well. I guess if I had read the ‘True Believer’ first, I would have better understood their bonding. To sum it up, it is a well told story and worth a read.

I am back..with a Tag

2010-08-27T00:08:00.013+05:30

Its been ages since I posted anything on my blog. This time around it’s not just my laziness… have been falling sick on and off since last month and a half.. it turned out to be a pretty serious matter.. had to be admitted into a hospital for about a week.. my first stay in hospital and my brush with IV salines, needless to say it wasn’t an enjoyable one.. :-( It’s something I hope to be a once in a lifetime experience only.. (Btw I have had an eye-opening experience with government hospitals.. maybe I will write about it some day..) Today let me get this blog alive again with a post. Amu tagged me once again and thus saved me the effort of searching for a topic.. :-) Let me focus on it today; this one is a gender tag. “You gotta spill 10 facts about you which do not fit the stereotype of your gender.”

Hmmm.. you know before my wedding I always thought I am a little ‘non-girly’ (borrowed from Amu. :D ) however now I realize I am a little more girly than I thought. For example, I used to think of myself as a very logical person which I am, most of the times, but there are many a times when I think more from my heart than my head i.e. a classic case of emotions driving logic. Anyways there are still few things about me that may not fit into the ‘traditional’ gender stereotype but then these stereotypes are changing everyday and I am sure I am not the only one with such aberrations..

I am excellent with numbers.. Maths was one of my most favorite subjects along with physics. Don’t get to apply all that school maths now however I have managing the financial aspect of my project since long and am proud of the fact that they have been impeccable. Even my seniors highlight it as one of my key strengths.
I love adventure and traveling.. any new place that you want to explore, I am always ready with my bags packed. I still remember the time when in our friend circle, I would be the only girl who would say yes to a trip but then had to back out in the end since no other girl would be willing to join us. :-( On one such occasion, my friend H convinced his friend P who was at Mysore to join us in Bangalore. Together we started for our holiday destination. It turned out to be a blessing as it gave me a chance to make friendship with a wonderful girl P.. we even went for girls only trips together..Anyways those were the times, I realized marriage has its positives too.. u get a companion for life..:-D
I don’t understand hints and don’t know how to give them too well either.. if you want me to do something, better tell it directly. I am too much into myself to understand subtle and not so subtle hints. Same is the other way round; I tell directly what I want.
I am not into make up at all!! It’s not because I don’t like it; it’s more to do with my lack of knowledge about it. I don’t know how to apply make up; the most I can do is apply moisturizer and lipstick. After combing my hair, I am done.
Same with accessories and jewelry. **I love collecting earrings, jewelry sets and other such stuff, however when it comes to actually wearing matching/contrast stuff, changing into new ones, I am very very lazy. There was a time some 3 years back or so, when coaxed by my roomies, I started wearing matching accessories with my office wear. Used to go to office, a little decked up. And you know what, few of my colleagues, actually thought I had gotten engaged and started even congratulating me. :-O Anyways I still love collecting beautiful jewelry sets especially gold ones. I consider gold a very good investment. Got many awesome ones in my wedding.
Hey.. there’s one accessory that I love wearing and that’s ‘Bangles’. I always get matching ones for my saree and wear ‘hands-full’ of them. (**PS: Not sure if this one will still fit into a female stereotype as I love collecting jewelry)
Like Amu, I never used to like flower bouquets. I used to find them waste of a gift. However I have loved receiving them from my fiancée since our engagement and continue to like it. M still gets me a lot of flowers. If not more, at least once a month. I still like flowers more on plants but till I get a flower garden for myself, I am not complaining about the bouquets. :-D
I also function more in a Do-It-Yourself mode. If there’s something that I can do myself, I go ahead and do it instead of assigning it to someone else.
I have a loud voice.. :-( .. I don’t have the sweet feminine voice that girls usually have. When I am excited, I talk really fast and a wee bit loud. There are times when even I cringe hearing my voice.
Although I might not be as logical as a guy, however I still am more logical than a typical girl. Most of the time, I go by logical reasoning. However I have found out that for a few things for example my family, I can even compromise on logic. Hmm.. for example.. my belief in God is unquestionable and way beyond logic. Same is the case with my adoration for Sachin. :-D
I am very forgetful. Even when I have a fight and I will be angry at someone, it’s more a case for forget and forgive. After sometime, I will totally forget that I had a fight with that person and will go and talk to him/her. Even if I get angry, I cool down really fast. My anger is gone in a few minutes. Both I and M take equal turns (almost equal :-D) to manaaofy each other.

Phew!!!! Finally I am done.. both with the tag and a post after long time.

You know what M said and I am quoting him verbatim.. “All my positives (caring, loving nature, positive attitude, good cooking, etc) are feminine and all my negatives (loud voice, laziness, etc) are masculine in nature.” :-D

The 'moral' drama

2010-05-24T21:47:00.002+05:30

I always get irritated seeing this drama that our politicians (I won’t call them leaders as we don’t have any) carry on everyday. Especially when they offer to resign on grounds of so called taking ‘moral responsibility’. The latest in the line being our honorable aviation minister - Mr. Praful Patel. In a crisis situation, he should actually be taking control and investigating the matter. However instead of assuring the Public, he chooses to offer to quit. And especially since he knows he is not the direct culprit and obviously our PM will not accept his resignation. I would love to see him make the same offer if for example he is caught in a bribery case or if there’s a criminal case against him. But you won’t find a minister taking ‘moral responsibility’ when their morals have been compromised. What a shameless lot!!

PS: Btw on a separate note, I do think our Home minister should take some ‘moral responsibility’ and quit before more people die. When I learnt about the Naxal attack last year, I thought he needs time to work. But what has he been doing?? Not sure if he is just not interested coz none of the states suffering from Naxalism are congress-ruled (I hope I am wrong).

Another Tag by Amu

2010-03-19T18:58:00.007+05:30

Have logged into e-blogger after a long time.. was busy with some professional as well as personal chores.... I guess its more than a month now when Amu had tagged me.. Finally I am now able to take it up. Here are my answers.. :)

1. What is your current obsession?

Our home or more specifically the home loan.. ;-). We have just bought a flat here and have been busy with getting home loan quotes from various banks and breaking our heads together in order to finalize one.

2. What are you wearing today?

Right now, a T-shirt and a 3/4th.

3. What’s for dinner?

Stuffed veg parantha, pickle, tea and some fruits (pineapple, water melon & banana)

4. What’s the last thing you bought?

Registered our flat. :-)

5. What are you listening to right now?

With or without you – heard this yesterday on TV and got hooked to it all over again.. :-D

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?

She is my best friend with whom I have shared and continue to share all the eventful and uneventful moments of my life. Someone who provides me guidance & support whenever I need it. Love you tones dearie & thank you so much for being such a wonderful & beautiful friend. Muaaaah.

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?

Hmm.. practically speaking I would want it in Bhubaneswar but as long as I am dreaming why not get a beautiful bungalow in a hill station furnished with state of the art things inside and beautiful trees and plants outside. ;-)

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?

Cotton clothes..

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

Go to meet my youngest sis, Twinkle. Her board exams are going on.. would like to be with her.

10. Which language do you want to learn?

I am very poor in learning languages.. but if I can, I would like to improve on my Oriya and learn Marathi – it would be very helpful here :-).

11. What’s your favourite quote?

Hmmm.. I have many fav quotes.. :-) But for sake of putting one, here’s something that I have in my signature: "Carpe Diem”

12. Who do you want to meet right now?

M – Waiting for him to come home. :-)

13. What is your favourite colour?

Red

14. Give us 3 styling tips that work for you.

Hmm.. Difficult question.. let me list something down..
- Have all kinds of color in your wardrobe: vibrant as well as sober.
- When it comes to Suits, cotton clothes look graceful. In Saris, I think georgette looks elegant.
- Always have a smiling face. It adds warmth to your persona.

15. What is your dream job?

The one which pays me a little more than the norm and make me work a little less than the norm. At the moment I have exactly opposite job. But I still like it…. Go figure!! :-)

16. What’s your favorite magazine?

Used to love comics as a kid (I still do.. :-D) My dad had got us subscription of many different magazines.. Now a days I don’t read many magazines. The only one I regularly buy is Reader's Digest.

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?

Go out to a restaurant, shop for clothes.

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?

I have no idea what ‘Fashion’ is so can’t really comment here. I can differentiate only between what looks good and what doesn’t. To each his/her own; just wear something that suits your body style and is not indecent.

19. Who according to you is the most over-rated style icon?

Right now the only over-rated person I can think of is AB and his family. I think we are seeing just a tad too much of each of them. I find them all utterly irritating.

20. What kind of haircut do you prefer?

A Step cut with frizzles – I only wish I had jet straight hair.

21. What are you going to do after this?

Cut the fruits.

22. What are your favourite movies?

Mannnny…. Here are a few: Andaz Apna Apna, QSQT, LOTR series, Life is beautiful, Roman Holiday, etc, etc, etc.. :-)

23. What inspires you?

Anything & everything. Any good act inspires me.

24. What do your friends call you most commonly?

Mostly Ashma only.. just a rare few call me Ash. Some friends call me Ashu too..

25. Would you prefer coffee or tea?

Depends on my mood and time of the day. Love to have tea in morning and evening.. But if it’s after dinner, I like to have coffee. .. especially if its raining and I get to share it with M. :-)

26. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?

Hmmm…. Call up and speak to my friends (Amu, Ashwani, Vivek or Rachana). Talk to M Or talk to my sis and aunt. Don’t generally tell Mom till it’s under control as she tends to worry about it even more.

27. What makes you go wild?

No comments.. ;-)

28. Which other blogs do you love visiting?

There are a few I regularly read. Among my friends, there’s amu’s & ashwani’s blogs. There are some bloggers like sayesha, sunshine, etc whose blogs I happened to read and got hooked.. I read them pretty regularly now.

29. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?

Gulab Jamun, Gazar ka halwa, Jalebi & motichur ke laddu. And of course Icecream.

30. How many tabs are turned on in ur browser right now?

31. Favorite Season?

Rains :-)

32. If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?

Palak Paneer, Kofta (if you don’t like Paneer), Veg Pulav and Parantha. Accompanied with curd, salad and papad. I just made Gazar ka halwa all by myself for the first time a few days back and it was awesome… so maybe I will make that too in case I have time.. So when are you coming? ;-)

33. What is the right way to avoid people who purposefully hurt you?

Ignore them. If you know they are purposefully hurting you, why get hurt!

34. What are you afraid of the most?

At the moment, whenever I think of child birth.. :-D I can not bear pain and the thought of all that pain scares the hell out of me.. :(

35. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

Same as I did yesterday – I am putting on weight. :-(

36. What brings a smile on your face instantly??

M and a “Smile” from anyone.. :-)

37. A word that you say a lot?

That’s ok

38. What would you do if you were made President of India for one day?

Make littering a punishable offence and enforce it strictly.

39. What is that one thing that keeps you going?

Not one but the following do: God, My family and friends

40. What’s one thing that you used to love that you left

Nothing.. frequency of few things that I love to do have reduced but its all still there..

A year to remember

2010-01-06T22:14:00.015+05:30

The year 2009 has been a memorable year for me.. It started with a high and even ended with one - and everything in between was mostly on a high too.. :-). During Jan time, I was a newly married bride at my in-laws place soaking in all the attention. And come December, I was in the company of my in-laws again (brother-in-law, bhabhi and the kids) enjoying the love being showered on the ‘choti bahu’ and ‘chachi’... :-) (Of course, it goes with out saying that during this time the lovely wife was also basking in the love of her loving husband ;-) )

I had welcomed 2009 with M.. at that time we were working in different cities and our plans were not yet concrete. When we parted in mid Jan to report back at our respective offices, we weren’t sure about how much time it would take till we set up a home together. M was planning to move to Bangalore, however with the recession in IT industry being at its peak at that time, there were not many opportunities to look forward to. Meanwhile both of us initiated internal transfers in our company to move to Pune (luckily both his and my company has a branch here).Initially the chances of transfer getting approved also looked slim owing to dearth of project work in the new location and N number of internal constraints. However by God’s grace, all the pieces fell into place and by mid April we were together - in time to celebrate my birthday with M (a perfect gift for me.. :-))

Setting up a home together has been fun and a little exhausting. :-D The time and effort that went in setting it up and all the stuff that we have added to our home, moving in to a different place is going to be LOT of work. While doing all this, we have had our share of differences, fights, ruthana-manana, rona-dhona et all... but most importantly there has been lot of love. Even the fights have helped bring in more love into our marriage. (Fights between married couples is a must I say.. ;-) ) We also bought a car.. A lovely bright Red beauty.. I am still to start driving it but I am immensely enjoying lounging on the front seat listening to music and giving instructions while M drives. ;-p

2009 had a lot of ‘with-family’ time in it. :-) While I was in Bangalore, first my in-laws and then my bua aka elder sister visited me. Then during Holi, my Mom came with my kid bro to celebrate Gangaur Pooja. By April, I was in Pune with M. Post this, every month we have had someone or other from my parents or in-laws place visiting us. My sister was with us till mid of the year and then went to Noida to join her new company and begin her professional life. Anyways with so much time spent with family members, the time just flew by and before I realized, the year was over. 2009 ended on a perfect note, with bhaiya & bhabhi being here with us to bid adieu to the year gone by and welcome the New Year. They were here during the kids Christmas holidays. We were really looking forward to their trip and with 2 long weekends falling in between and a few leaves that we took; we had ample time to catch up on things. Their stay here was simply awesome and it just strengthened our plan to settle near home in Orissa.

Overall the year has been extremely good!!!! After being apart for a good 3 months, M & I are together and would you believe it since then we have not been apart even for one single day!!! :-D We also celebrated our first wedding anniversary in December. And even though we have our differences, M is just perfect for me. (M, In case you are reading this.. I am just too perfect and good for you.. ok!! ;-) ) Icing on the cake - we won the best couple contest held in our society for the New Year celebrations. Hehehehe… Touchwood!! :-D

I somehow don’t think anything can be better than the year gone by but then all I want is everything.. so here’s hoping for an even better 2010. Wishing everyone, a beautiful year ahead!!

PS: I know I have written we have been together, we are together, M & I, etc.. 'N’ number of times in this post…. so as of you can see it has been the highlight of the year for me.. :-)

D(iwali) Day

2009-11-26T19:00:00.007+05:30

I am just back from a much awaited trip home. This being my first Diwali after marriage, everyone back home was waiting eagerly for this. Both I and M had not made a trip home after marriage and were really looking forward to the Diwali vacation. We had planned to start from Pune on Oct 15^th so as to reach home by Oct 16^th-on time to be a part of the Choti Diwali pujan. Since we could shop only on weekends, we started shopping 3 weeks prior to our departure day. A lot of goodies were bought for all the kids at both my and M’s place - altogether 10 kids in the age group of 3-12 years with one more on the way.. J. I also got some gifts for my brother in law and bhabhi. We also got decorative Diyas, wall hangings and rangoli colors for our home in Pune as well for our home back in Orissa. Once all this was done, we finally shopped for ourselves - M got new shirts, trousers, etc and I bought a saree. Again as this was my first Diwali at my in-laws place, I wanted to get a good fancy saree and accessories. The one I bought is golden brown colored Georgette Saree (with a tinge of orange in it) which has very beautiful and intricate zardozi work all over it. Made quite a dent in M’s wallet…:-D

While we were busy shopping and packing our luggage, it wasn’t even sure if we would be making the trip. You see both M and I had critical project deliverables and getting leaves approved was turning out to be a difficult task. In order to avoid our family members getting disappointed at the end, we started communicating the same to them and setting the expectation that we might not be home for Diwali. Anyways finally M’s leaves were approved, however mine were still tentative – something which got approved just 2 days prior to the journey date. The train journey back home was fun… met a real nice and fun loving Gujarati family; the journey passed sharing food, singing songs, playing cards..I love train journeys especially all the eatables that you get in various stations that are on the way.. I made sure that M got down and brought me the specialty of each. J (No wonder I am putting on weight.. I just have N-O control when it comes to food.. and it’s showing.. L )

Finally we reached home.. it was around 9.30 pm and after quickly getting ready, all of us started the choti Diwali Puja. It was awesome being at home again after a gap of 10 odd months. Though both my parents and in-laws had visited Pune in this duration, the feeling of “being-at-home” is quite different when you are actually at your home.. your entire family.. your relatives..your neighbours.. your staff and all... J J After the puja, we all sat together for our dinner.. At my in-laws place, the four of us (I, M, M’s bro and bhabhi) always take our food together in a platter.. (its something I feel really good about.. I know little stupid but it makes me feel good. J My bro-in-law and bhabhi are really chilled out and so our equation is not at all like you will find in a typical Marwari household - if u have bro-in-law who is 6-8 years elder to you, you are generally not that free with him, however mine is simply superb.. One thing which is really great about both bhaiya and bhabhi is the sense of belongingness that they make you feel.. Since I got married, I have never felt as if these are new relations that I am building.. it was like they are mine and I am theirs since the beginning.. J And this is something I can say about my FIL and MIL too.. I thank God every single day for getting me married into such a beautiful family). After dinner, all of us sat together and opened the gifts that we had bought. By the time we retired into our rooms, it was already 3 am.

Diwali day started early for me, thanks to Amu who called me up at around 6.30 in the morning. Since everyone gets damn busy on D day, it was good that she caught me up in the morning itself. J And thanks again to her, this was the first time I got ready early in my sasural. ;-D As expected, Diwali was a hectic day.. the basic rituals performed at my sasural is same as what is done at my parent’s place, however there were few additional things that I had to do as this was my first marital year. In the evening, I and bhabhi made Rangoli in front of the entrance to our home. A cute little & extremely colorful Ganesha. J Bhaiya had bought some floating candles which I kept in a vessel filled with colored water & decorated it with flowers. Meanwhile Bhaiya and M got ready and started decorating the Puja room. It was already 7 pm by the time we completed our rangolis and everyone except I and bhabhi had changed into their new clothes. So we went running to our rooms, had a quick bath and got ready for the Puja. Along with the saree, I wore some of my wedding jewelry J (since these were pretty heavy, I hadn’t gotten a chance to wear them since my wedding day).

After the Diwali puja and dinner, we went to the houses of our close relatives (who stay in our neighboring houses) to seek blessings from the elders in the family. It took about nearly 1.5 hours to get this task completed, even though all the houses are very nearby. After coming back, we started bursting crackers. The kids in the house as expected were by my side, asking me to burst crackers with them. I used to be in a fix as to which group do I go to.. it was a tricky as well as funny situation to be in. J ... As always, bursting crackers was fun.. btw it did feel a little weird doing that in Saree.. :-D. All in all, a great Diwali celebration.. a perfect 10 for a first Diwali.. J Enjoyed it immensely.

PS: This post has been in my drafts folder for ages now.. I was thinking of writing about the entire trip home however I haven’t been able to complete it - want to post it before next diwali.. ;-D. Anyways it’s quite a long post already. So I am gonna just post it as it is. Feeling too lazy at the moment to write more or edit. Below is a picture of the rangoli we made.

Congratulations on the 20!!

2009-11-15T19:03:00.012+05:30

I had to write this post... even though I am too occupied with many personal and professional chores and most importantly feeling too lazy to actually think and write something.. However Sachin just completed 20 w-O-ndErfuL years in international cricket and I don't have any other way of showing how delighted I am. This is a remarkable achievement considering the amount of cricket that's being played since last decade and India being in the forefront of the cricket business, we have the most busy schedule. With the amount of injuries he had had and the constant burden of expectations that he has to live up to, its a-m-a-z-i-n-g that Sachin has always been consistently great and plays with the same passion today as he did 20 long years ago. He is someone who has been loved by the whole country and admired all around the cricketing world. As a famous saying goes, "If cricket is my religion, than Sachin is my God".. he is indeed the One!! Congratulations on your wonderful journey and thank you for keeping the faith intact!! :-)

PS: The only thing that makes me sad is that it will all end one day. :-(

Enjoying the rain

2009-11-11T19:24:00.009+05:30

Loving the weather outside.. it has been raining NON-STOP here since yesterday. :-) I am enjoying steaming hot Teas in these cold rainy days. If only, there was no office to attend to. :-( But as they say.. you don’t get everything!! So I am enjoying with whatever is coming along.. :-D

Celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi

2009-09-05T11:20:00.021+05:30

The Ganesh Chaturthi celebration this year was a fun filled affair. My family always celebrates Ganesh Puja by installing Ganesha Idol at our ancestral home in IB, a small village near my hometown. We pray and perform Puja for 9 days and bid him farewell with a fond request to grace our home again next year. This is something that we have been doing since ages now and I have loads of good old memories associated with Ganesha and his birthday celebration. :-) Now that I am married and have set up my own home, I wanted to bring this tradition along to my new household. Also being in Pune during Ganapati Puja just helped make the whole idea all the more appealing.

Last Saturday, I and M went out in the evening to get clay Ganesha Idol. The market where the Idols were being sold was just awesome. You could see Ganesha in all kinds of forms, colors and sizes. I don’t think I have ever seen so many Ganesha statues before. After seeing thousands of statues, we got a cute replica of the “Dagdu Seth Halwai” Ganapati - one the oldest and most famous Ganapati of Pune. After finalizing this, we went on a frantic shopping spree to buy variety of things for the Puja – clothes for the Ganesha, ingredients for preparing sweets, fruits, flowers, colorful papers, streamers and lights for decoration, et all. As soon as dinner was done, we started decorating the puja room. M also downloaded many Ganesh vandanas and aartis from the internet. It was 2 am by the time we crashed into bed.

Sunday started earlier than usual. Our plan was to get up at 6.30 or 7ish, however by the time we woke up it was already 8.30 and we hurriedly got ready. Since I do not get many chances to wear Saree, I always look out for excuses to wear one. This was one perfect excuse. :-) After getting ready, we began preparing the Prasad & Panchamrit, decking up the Aarti thalis, and other chores along these lines. M switched on his laptop and played the Ganapati vandanas to create a festive mood. It was 11.00 by the time all this was done and we could start the Puja. We had invited our next door neighbors too. No elaborate puja ceremony was conducted – just few Aartis and small prayers. It felt great doing the aarti with M. I was thinking about last year’s Ganesh Chaturthi – at that time M had come to Bangalore to meet me. We had gone to the Ganesh temple in Koramangala, the first temple we went together. :-) Doing such pujas together with M has always given me a sense of peace – a divine blessing for our togetherness.

By the time puja was done, it was already past 12; we decided to skip breakfast and directly have our lunch. Mom had made missi roti for lunch. Accompanied with alu tamatar sabji and curd, it was delicious. We ate to our heart’s content. The only thing we could do after eating so much was sit and talk. We celebrated Ganesha’s birthday for 7 full days. Everyday we used to do morning and evening aarti. It required little planning to place it in our hectic work schedule but it was fun nonetheless. Even with all the planning and numerous last minute changes, those 7 days were spiritually satisfying. After visarjan, the puja place looked very empty. :-( M really didn’t like the whole idea of visarjan; he has decided that we will not do visarjans again. Maybe we will get a permanent Ganesh Idol and deck him up during Ganesh Chaturthi. So let’s see how the celebrations are gonna be next year. Anyways our first experience was an amazing one and we would surely like to up the ante next time. We have requested Ganesha to come soon next year too.. “Ganapati bappa moriya.. agle baras tu jaldi aa” :-)

Here's a pic of our "Ganesha"

My food blog

2009-08-24T20:53:00.006+05:30

With the amount of cooking that I have started doing post marriage, the idea to create a food blog seemed very attractive. I have been experimenting with food and this would be a platform wherein I can share my experiments with you. Don’t worry not all the food I prepare are experiments. In fact, in most cases I go by the recipes that I have seen my mom cook. So it will mostly be tried and tested stuff. Hmm.. now the only thing I will have to do is to remember and take pics before the food gets over. :-)

Here's a link to my brand new blog -> Food blog

And just like this blog and the picture blog that I have, I will try to make the food blog too into at the least once a month affair.

Picture Tag

2009-07-08T19:21:00.018+05:30

I have been tagged by Amu and here are the rules: - I have to pick a picture from my collection and post it here along with the story behind it.

I was checking out my pictures folder to choose a pic for this tag. I narrowed down on quite a few pictures where I had a story to tell – some pics of my little bro, some of my sisters, a few of my trips with friends and few with M. It was really difficult to choose one out of the lot. Anyways while I was still contemplating which one to put, I came across the one below and choose it instead.

The way I got this photo also has a small story to it. When we were kids, as was the norm at that time, we only had hard copies of photographs. And whenever my Mamas or Mausis came to visit us, they used to flick one or other picture from the album to take along with them. This was one such pic – it was taken by my Mausi who stays in Pune. A couple of months back, Gaurav, her eldest son and my bro, got this pic scanned and mailed it to me. I can’t tell you how delighted I was on seeing this photograph – felt pretty nostalgic and happy thinking of old times. So here is the picture:

I am sure you would have already guessed that this is a photo of mine with my sis and my handsome dad. Anyways I won’t tell here as to which one of two kids is me. :-) Since my friends are the only ones who read this blog, if you are reading this blog it means you have already recognized me. Now for the story behind the pic, here it goes..

This pic was taken during the “Rath Yatra” also known as the Chariot festival. It’s the most famous festival celebrated in Orissa (my home state). As a kid, I used to have a lot of fun during Rath Yatra. Our house is situated on the main road in my hometown and during Rath Yatra, the chariot carrying the deities passes in front of our house. On both sides of the main road, variety of vendors set up makeshift stalls where you get different kinds of toys – plastic, metal and wooden, kitchen sets, doctor sets, small gadgets, balloons, eatables et all. When I was small I used to love buying these things during Rath Yatra. In the evening at around 5ish, I and my sisters used to put on new dresses and get all decked up for an outing. My dad used to take us for a trip down the entire stretch of the main road. He bought us everything that we wanted to get. I especially used to love miniature kitchen sets, cute wooden furniture and bright, colorful plastic watches with cute designs & accessories. I and my sisters used to buy lot of such stuff. And invariably, we always used to buy helium filled air balloons. We used to love watching it float in air while we were happily going home holding papa's hand.... quite a mighty task considering that we were holding all of the toys and other such treasures in our little hands too. Once inside the house, we used to tie a long thread to its end and leave it free... The balloons used to go up and touch the ceiling. After playing around for hours, we used to release it outside and watch it go up, up and up.. :-) Those were some wonderful days!! This picture is of one such Rath Yatra celebration. Post shopping, my dad had taken me and my sis to a photo studio for capturing the day in print and here I am sharing it with you. :-)

Marriage and yours truly

2009-06-23T21:10:00.009+05:30

What’s diff b/w ideology of single and married women?

Ok so this is what a friend of mine suggested me to write about saying that I haven’t written something in my blog for ages. My first reaction on reading the topic was “baba re.. dhamakedaar topic hai”. Ideology is a pretty heavy word. :-) I don’t think there are any ideological changes that have come in me post marriage.. just that a few priorities change which impacts your outlook too. It may as well be applicable to guys. Anyways I can’t speak for women in general but can definitely write about the changes that I see in myself. Let me jot down a few here. Strictly based on my experience. :-)

As already mentioned, your priorities change. I am a working woman who stays away from home. My work life always had my undivided attention since I started working. This is not to say that my family wasn’t important for me – they are and always will be the No.1 in my life. But in the day to day routine, my only interaction with them was over phone. So my days were mostly dedicated to my work. After marriage, it has changed. My husband has become my first priority now. Ok now don’t go to the extreme thinking that all my ambitions and professional goals have been disposed off. They are still very much there - I am still working on pursuing higher education and excel in my professional life. It’s just that I will balance it with my family life. I know such extreme scenario won’t come but if I have to choose between the two, my personal life would win hands down.
Earlier when I used to think of marriage, I had a very pessimistic picture in mind (even though I am essentially an optimist). You see life has always been good to me (Touchwood!!) and I was pretty sure that the law of averages will catch up and I am going to have a terrible married life. Thankfully, it’s not that way at all. Life is indeed beautiful.
My patience gets tested almost everyday. :-) Oh I have never had so many differences over minute trivial stuff with anyone as I have with M. This is really mind-boggling considering that we think very much alike and are always in agreement over each and every major decision. If anyone can help unravel this mystery, I would be indebted. Anyways even with all this, it’s not like I am becoming more patient or that I hate these disagreements. To be truthful, I find them exciting. Making up after a silly argument is fun. Married life without such arguments would be so damn boring.
A very noticeable change that has happened in me post marriage is the amount of weight that I have put on. :-( :-( :-( :-( But I being what I am (read “Super Lazy”), I am not doing anything about it except thinking of ways to keep it in check.
I really used to doubt if I would love some one so much that he will matter to me more than myself, some stranger who will become a part of my family, someone whose safety and life would mean more to me than my own. I know that I already would do that for my family members but that’s different as I was born into my family and intrinsically & unconditionally I love them. I can do anything for my parents and siblings. But adding a total outsider to the equation and applying similar rules – I used to think this would be next to impossible. How wrong I was. :-)
I have also learnt that marriage is work just like any other relationship. Being the most important one, you have to work all the more harder on it. Trust me it’s so much worth it.
Talking about work, I never knew there were so many chores involved in running a household. I have stayed in flats in Bangalore sharing it with friends. We used to do all the things you do in a house like get the grocery, vegetables, pay electricity bills, rent, maid, and other such n number of things. So I thought it would be the same way once I get married and have my own home. But the chores have multiplied. I think it’s more to do with the fact that it’s no longer a bachelor house but a family home. And hence not having a pickle or papad or having unmatched cutleries and a little unkempt house is no longer okay. Now I am a little more careful in making sure that things are available and in their proper way. Thanks to my ‘efficient’ maid here, I wash the non-stick utensil myself – even after repeatedly telling her to use the soft brush and not the steel one on them, she has left quite a few scratches. :-( Anyways there are innumerable chores in a house and luckily for me M, a dear empathetic soul, helps me out. Moms are really great yaar.. considering our Dads are from a generation who think men earn and women do household work and the two shall not meet.
Just seeing M makes me happy. I know.. I know.. it sounds pretty mushy/corny.. whatever.. But at the end of the day, when M comes back from office and I open the door, my lips automatically form a smile and the world just brightens up. :-)
I always used to wonder why people marry - for love, family pressure, peer pressure, frustration, etc.. Anyways for whatever reason people marry, I think now I know why married people want the unmarried ones to get hitched. At least I want my younger sisters or some bachelor friends to get married. It’s FUN and beautiful and everyone should enjoy it for sure. (PS: And later, we can all sit together, crib about our married status and remember the good old single days:-D)

I had heard this dialogue in the movie “Shall we dance?” Something that Susan Sarandon tells the detective she had hired to check on her husband. Here she is explaining why she thinks people marry. “We need a witness to our lives. There are a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'”

I found it very romantic. :-) And hence got a witness for my life.. ;-)

A lengthy Tag

2009-05-29T17:32:00.003+05:30

Disclaimer: Picked this tag from a blog.. a pretty long one. Want Amu to definitely take this up, anyone else who wants can take it up too.

1. Last drink: Water

2. Last phone call: My hubby M.

3. Last text message: ICICI bank.. salary got credited.. yipeeeeeeeeeeeee.. :-)

4. Last song you listened to: M shouting.. ahem.. I mean singing old Hindi songs yesterday night.

5. Last time you cried: yesterday.. I get tears in my eyes when I laugh a lot..:-D but I don’t think that’s what is being asked here.. :-p

HAVE YOU EVER...
6. Dated someone twice: does going out with your fiancée count? :-) Anyways went out with a friend once.. didn’t realize it was supposedly a date until very late.. went extra careful dealing with him going forward..

7. Been cheated upon? Not really.. or maybe haven’t found it yet. Be careful dear.. m gonna check your wallet tonight.. ;-)

8. Kissed someone & regretted it? Nope

9. Lost someone special? Yes my grandpa.

10. Been depressed? Yup once.. my friend Amu was a big support helping me tide over it. Hadn’t shared it with my family. It’s something I won’t wish upon even my enemies..

11. Been drunk and threw up? Nope

LIST THREE FAVOURITE COLOURS:
12. Red
13. Black
14. White

FIRSTS :
15. Made new friends: Yes. First friend I made were my cousins.

16. Fallen out of love: Not yet. There were a few crushes I fell out of though.. :-)

17. Laughed until you cried: loads of times.

18. Met someone who changed you: Yes.

19. Found out who your true friends were: yes… I am blessed with some really amazing friends.

20. Found out someone was talking about you: Hmm.. nope.. don’t remember if I have heard anyone talk about me.. anyways I have a bad memory. :(

HAVE/YOU:
21. Kissed anyone on your friend's list: M was on my friend’s list before we kissed.. will it count? :-D

22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life: Except a few, all are known from my real life.

23. How many kids do you want to have: None.. can’t take the pain.. I want to adopt kids.. Anyways I would like to have 4. :-). I know it’s a big number but 1 is too less.. 2 means the younger one will feel lonely when the elder leaves the nest.. 3 means 1 pair may gang up against the 3rd.. so 4’s perfect!! I know.. weird logic.. but then it’s me! :-D

24. Do you have any pets: Naah.. :-(

25. Do you want to change your name: No.. I love it!!

26. What did you do for your last birthday: First b’de after our wedding, celebrated with hubby dear.

27. What time did you wake up today: 7.20am

28. What were you doing at midnight last night: listening to M’s serenade

29. Name something you CANNOT wait for: going home.

30. Last time you saw your father: about 5 months back.. loooooooooooooong time. :-(

31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life: not life as such but I would like to change the way I am continuously gaining weight now a days.

32. Most visited web page: google

Whats your:
33. Name: Ashma

34. Nicknames: None.. except for some endearments that M uses. One of my friend used to call me Aish..

35. Zodiac sign: Aries

36. Male or female or transgender: Female

37. Elementary: Siksha Niketan

38. School: Same as above

39. Colleges: NITR

40. Hair color: Naturally black.. recently got it colored to reddish brown

41. Long or short: Average

42. Height: a little less than 5’5”

43. Do you have a crush on someone? Yeah.. Hugh Jackman and George Clooney.

44. Ever been in love? Yes.. m still in it.. :-)

45. Piercings? Yes… ears and nose.

46. Tattoos? No. I would like to have one though.

47. Righty or lefty: Righty

48. First surgery: None yet.

49. First piercing: Ears..when I was in college

50. First best friend: Reshma Aunty

51. First sport you loved: Dunno about sports but in Games, Indoor – Playing cards. Outdoor – Badminton.

52. First pet: None :-(

53. First vacation: Don’t remember.. must have been my Nani-ghar.

54. First concert: Hmm.. I think it was Euphoria.

55. First crush: Ajay Jadeja.

RIGHT NOW:
56. Eating: Not eating but I am chewing a gum.

57. Drinking: Water

58. I'm about to: complete this tag.

59. Listening to: two of my colleagues talking about some CMR data and all.

60. Waiting for: my team to send the latest tool for baselining!

YOUR/FUTURE
61. Want kids? Yes

62. Want to get married? I already am.

63. Careers in mind? Already into one.

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
64. Lips or eyes: Both have their own appeal.. ;-) But if I have to pick one, it would be the eyes.

65. Hugs or kisses: Depends.. can’t have either from everyone..

66. Shorter or taller: Taller.

67. Older or Younger: Older.

68. Romantic or spontaneous: Romantic but who is also spontaneous.. planning all the time will kill the romance I think..

69. Nice stomach or nice arms: both but arms rate a little higher..

70. Sensitive or loud: sensitive

71. Hook-up or relationship: relationship.

72. Trouble maker or hesitant: Neither.. someone in between but leaning more towards the trouble maker side

HAVE YOU EVER :
73. Kissed a stranger: Nope.

74. Lost glasses / contacts: Yes.. first time I wore contacts, it went down the washbasin while I was washing my face.

76. Broken someone's heart: Hmm.. Sad but I think I have.

77. Had your own heart broken: Not in a romantic way.

78. Been arrested: was flagged down by a police car, got a speeding ticket and had my license suspended.. Does it count?

79. Turned someone down: Yes.

80. Cried when someone died: Yes.

81. Liked a friend that is a girl? Majority of my friends are girls..!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
81. Yourself: Yes.

82. Miracles: Yes.

83. God: Yes.

84. Love at first sight: Nope. Attraction yes but love no.

85. Heaven: I think we get to experience both heaven and hell here on earth based on our deeds and when we die, maybe its just all over.

86. Santa Claus: No.

87. Kiss on the first date? No.

88. Angels: Yes.. know a few people and some friends who are like angels in disguise.

89. Devils: Yeah.. a few friends are that too.. ;-)

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
90. Is there one person you want to be with right now? Yes.

91. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time? Not in the way its meant here.

92. Wanted to kill someone ever? Yes. Sometimes feel like killing M :-D

93. Among your blog mates, whom would you like to kiss? No one that I haven't kissed already.. hehehehehe.. ;-) I meant M.

94. Committed a blunder and regretted later? Yes. Many..

95. Wanted to steal your friend's boyfriend / girlfriend? Nope.

Associate with something you wear:
96. White: Sandal and T-shirts.

97. Black: Jeans.

98. Red: T-shirts and Saree.

99. Pink: Shoe. I have a pink shoe. :-D

100. Posting this as 100 Truths? No...as a looooooooooooooooong tag with a disclaimer on top about it.

PS: Just realized question#75 is missing. So its 99 not 100 facts.. :)

Bye Bye Bangalore!

2009-04-12T12:17:00.013+05:30

Today is my last day in Bangalore. Tomorrow starts in a new city. After being in Bangalore for a long time now, the decision to move away was a big one. I started my professional life here a little more than 4 and ½ years back. Apart from the 1 year stay at onsite, I have not lived and worked in any other place. I have grown used to Bangalore and have come to love it too.

Few days back, I was chatting with one of my best friends Vivek and he asked me ‘So tell me what you liked the best in your stay in Bangalore?’ It made me think about all the things that I have liked in my stay here. My first response to Vivek’s question was I have had a great time and enjoyed each and every moment in Bangalore.

· I held my first (and as of now only) job here. Learned about the corporate world and my role in it. I work in one of most reputed S/W Company in India and the world and thanks to the project I have been allocated to; I have met some really talented individuals. Lucky for me, I have been surrounded by such brilliant people; it makes me raise my standards too. It’s really amazing that I have had the privilege to work with so many of such people.

· Thanks to the same set of amazing people (especially Shashank and Vivek), I feel the need to challenge and extend my potential. It’s happening in phases. Phase I completed. Phase II in progress. :)

· "Company makes the feast". The most important thing that makes a place endearing is the company you have. I have made some great friends here – both from my personal as well as professional acquaintances. School and College friends are the forever ones that I am sure everyone cherishes – the level is just so different. However some of the friends that I have made here are also the forever types.

· There are few people that I met for the first time in Bangalore and have formed a small bond with – Ashwani, Saurabh, Harish, Anil, Rohini, Milan, Sunil, Alka, Sweta to name a few. I am definitely going to miss them but then again I am sure we will be in touch.

· Some friendships went to greater levels, for example, Rashmi my schoolmate became my friend once we started staying together in Bangalore. It’s a different matter all together that it just crossed all levels and went kaboom.. :( Anyways it was the best while it lasted. Sameepa aka Sam, Lisa and Preeti are few of my college mates who became good friends as I got to know them more.

· My first onsite travel also happened in between. Let’s just suffice to say it was a beautiful experience that I enjoyed to the hilt.

· I love the Bangalore weather.

· In Bangalore, I have stayed just in the Koramangala area and that too only in 4th block. I love this locality a lot. Have loads of fond memories. :-) Some of my favorite hang outs are here. I have become used to the area – I get grocery from the same shop, get milk from the same dairy, eat panipuris from the same stall, have juice from the same juice junction, take Tea from the same Teashop.. :-) It’s a very safe locality - Me and my roomies have gone for late night walks; till as late as 12 – 12.30 at night. The area feels like home – has that my Adda feel to it.

· I lost weight and subsequently gained a lot of confidence when I came to Bangalore. I was a chubby slightly overweight girl in college. I used to feel pretty conscious wearing Jeans, skirts, etc and hence stopped it altogether. However thanks to my time here, I am a little more confident of myself. (PS: Never mind that I have gained weight in the past 2 months and am now back to my former self. :-( The confidence is still there though :-) )

· I tasted liquor for the first time while I was here too. But then when I say tasted, it means tasted! Never had more than a couple of sips. People say you need to drink more to develop a taste for it but I fail to understand that if I didn’t like it in the beginning only, why the hell would I want to develop a taste for it!!

· I discovered the adventurous side of myself here. Suggest any traveling and trekking trips and I am game.

· I loved the weekends spent with Sam and Milan. Sam and I absolutely love food and every weekend, we would go to some restaurants or the other. All of our weekends involved: movie, food, shopping and long drive in Sam’s car. We used to do things on an impulse. On one such weekend, while we were driving home, we decided to have Tea at Sam’s place. Since Sam didn’t have Tea or Milk at her home, Milan didn’t have Tea at his home and I didn’t have Milk at mine, we decided to get Tea from my home, Milk from Milan’s and prepare Tea at Sam’s place. It didn’t really matter to us that it was already around 12 in the night. So we executed this crazy plan of ours and had a gala time doing it. It was 2.30 by the time we were done. Oh I will miss doing such crazy things!

· I found my love and married him. And now leaving Bangalore to pursue him further. :)

· Hmm.. let me think.. what else is a new thing that I did while in Bangalore .. Started this blog!! :D

Today is my last day in this beautiful city and I still don't believe that I am leaving it for good. Maybe it will all sink in only once I have actually left the place. Will miss Bangalore for sure and especially all of my friends here. They are the ones who made my stay memorable. Hoping that I keep meeting all of my friends sooner rather than later.

A Special Holi!!

2009-03-22T00:42:00.016+05:30

It was a working day for me this Holi. Holi fell on a Wednesday and since it was exactly in the mid of a working week, it was pretty darn colorless. This was the first time in my life that I was not playing with colors on Holi. Considering the fact that I had played Holi even while I was in US, that too with just a handful of friends/colleagues, it was pretty disappointing not being to play it this time around. This being my first Holi after marriage, I wanted to celebrate it with M and have an extra special and memorable day. Anyways with M being in Baroda, the prospects didn’t look that great anyways. So as things turned out, I didn’t even get to see Gulaal, let alone play with it. :-( To feel a little better and not miss out on the fun part, I told my friends that let’s have it on the coming Sunday. How does it matter that it’s not Holi.. we all can get together, cook some delicacies, play with colors and have fun.

Ok so after deferring Holi celebrations to Sunday, everything continued as usual. On Saturday, I got ready early. That’s only because I am doing a Puja called “Gangaur” :-) (All married girls in our community have to do it in the first year of their marriage. It starts from the day Holika is burnt and continues for some 16-18 days. As it turns out I find this puja very interesting.. definitely worth a separate post). So I woke my roomie (Can’t do the puja alone. It’s supposed to be done with an unmarried girl :D) and both of us were doing the Gangaur Puja. I completed the Puja and came out of the Puja room. As soon as I was out, I hear M’s voice shouting “Surprise!!” And I see him standing there, with his face smeared in Gulaal and more Gulaal in his hands. I was so happy (and surprised too), I actually went speechless. I couldn’t form a single coherent word; I was just silently looking at him for a long time. Only when he put color on my face and hugged me, did I actually speak out. And the entire time M was laughing like anything – gloating over the fact that his plan to surprise me was successfully executed without a single hitch. :-D It seems everyone in our family and my roomie knew about this, while I was caught unaware. Great plan dear!!

Since we wanted to avoid our apartment getting colorful.. :-), all of us moved to the terrace (we have an amazing big private terrace on our floor). We played holi for sometime.. Since I don’t actually understand dry Holi.. I went to the bathroom and got a bucketful of water, mixed some color into it (had to make do with Gulaal) and poured it on top of M. A round of Holi with colored water followed which was in turn followed by a round of photo session. After this, we took bath and got ready. (Thanks to M and his surprise, I had to take bath again.) By this time, everyone had built up a solid hungry stomach. I made Tea and Paranthas. And all of us had Tea and Parantha with Pickle. Some mixtures and mathari’s were also thrown in. So we ended up having a very late and very heavy breakfast – ideal for a lazy Saturday, don’t u think? :D The lunch prepared by our Cook is something that we had only at 5 in the evening; we ate it not coz we were hungry but coz we should eat it.. :-) With lunch done, we went out for an evening walk. Target - to make our bellies a little lighter; Result - Ended up having Pani Puri’s and Fruit Juice in our favorite snacks joint. :-)

Came back home. My cellphone has not been in working condition since last month or so and I wanted to buy a new cell and hence made M take me for shopping (Bought a Nokia Expressmusic series phone – I like it.. as of now). M and I drove around Bangalore for some time. After the amount of food that we had since morning, no one was looking forward to Dinner. But again we had to eat coz we had to eat. :-) Greedy us!! This time around M offered to make noodle sandwich. We all were ok.. go ahead.. but the name “noodle sandwich” itself made me more than a little apprehensive. As it turned out, it was our fav good old maggi (dry prepartion) stuffed between two slices of bread and tawa-toasted with big dollops of butter. It was yummmmmy.. :-) We had bought a 1.5 litre Thums Up bottle (a favorite of M) in the evening which went really well with the sandwich. With everyone eating 2 sandwiches each, the plan to keep dinner light backfired.

Anyways soon the dinner was over and chit-chat session followed. We retired into our rooms after sometime as we needed to get up early the next day. Mom was coming to Bangalore to help me with the Gangaur Puja :-) and I & M had planned to go to the station to pick her up. So next day when mom arrived, it was a great get together involving lot of food, laughter and fun. It can be a new post altogether – especially the laughter all of us shared watching the videos that my Mom got. During Christmas, I and M had gone to Brajrajnagar (my first trip home after marriage). We made some gr8 memories during that period. Most of it was captured by my sis in the handycam and Mom had bought the handy cam with her to Bangalore. Watching my family members (and that means everyone including my grandma) dancing on 25^th night, watching my sis getting terrified of drowning while boating on IB river, watching M wincing while giving blood for blood test – pure unadulterated fun. Watching the videos was the highlight of Sunday for sure.

All in all a great weekend!! My first Holi with M turned out to be even more memorable and special for me than my expectations. Thank you Honey!! I will always remember how special you made me feel this Holi.

Unveiling me..

2009-02-24T02:18:00.012+05:30

Tagged By: Amu

Rules : Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged.

Caution : Long post coming your way. :-)

I am a complete foodie. I just love food (by that I mean veg food). However recently M told me that it's a misconception that I have about me. I am not a foodie but simply ‘greedy’. :-( :-D
I am supremely optimistic. Okay some ppl that I know will probably roll their eyes on reading this - mostly coz I blurt out all the negative things that I can think of when facing a situation. For example, while going to book a movie show, I might say that we will be late and tickets will be over or while watching a match I will say India will loose. But that's mainly becoz I like to keep in mind what all (-)ve things can happen. However deep in my heart I am always sure that things will be good. My friends can vouch for it.. many friends call me when they are down in dumps to get a dose of my (+)ve energy. You see I am a happy person. ;-)
I am an Arian to the core – pretty impulsive, sometimes naïve, sometimes stubborn, and sometimes moody - good thing here I am generally in a good mood.
I simply love rain. :-)
I just loooooooooooove traveling - anytime, anywhere I am always game. Caught this bug from my father. He always used to take us some place or other during winter vacations. We would even have some or other small picnic in some quaint little place near our hometown. My main or shall I say sole reason for going onsite was to see new places. My stay in US and all the bucks that I made there, were spent on traveling.
I am a movie buff especially when it comes to Hollywood. I am the owner of a small collection of DVDs of some really good English movies. Building a large movie library is one goal that I have set for myself.
I love reading. As long as I can remember, I have always loved and continue to love reading. Thanks all to my dad who is an avid reader. We used to have monthly/weekly subscriptions of all types of magazines and comics in our home – be it India today, Chandamama, Champak, Nandan Kaanan, Outlook.. anything that was available in the small town that I come from. Add to this the 3 newspaper we used to get – Telegraph (English), Sambad (Oriya) and Nav-Bharat(Hindi). Comics of Super commando Dhruv, Naagraj, Pinki, Chacha Chaudhury, Billu et all were a welcome addiction. Slowly and steadily this love for reading extended to novels. It has reached a stage that if I don’t read something before sleeping, I think something is amiss. Reading has introduced me to a whole new world and helped give me an outlook. Can’t thank you enough Dad!! :-)
I love Tea - again anytime, anywhere.. but it gotta have some flavoring in it either of Elaichi or Adarak - I just hate plain Tea. Btw my Tea is always very very milky!!
Like most Maarus, I can have Chai (Tea), Achchar(Pickle) and Parantha anytime of the day for any number of days and still continue to love it.
I am laziness personified. :-(
I say ‘Aur Kya’ /’Aur bolo’ a lot. It is always and I mean always a part of all my telephonic conversations (except official ones of course).
I love the color RED. Actually I like all colors but red occupies a special place in my heart. There was a time when most of my T-shirts and suits were red colored. Even when I went to buy luggage, everyone who knew me had already guessed it's color. It reached a stage when my friends had to stop me from buying anything that even resembles color red. Let's just say my wardrobe has more variety now. :-)
I don't like changes much. I always get worried thinking of all the adjustments that I will have to do if I see a change coming mostly because I always find my current situation very good and hence don’t want to disturb the water and start ripples. But then again I am very flexible and adapt to everything pretty quick.
Since starting my professional life, I have fallen in love with Microsoft excel and all its features. I am very organized with the way I manage my projects. (At least I think so.. :-D ) For my portfolio, I have an excel sheet created with all relevant info, contacts, timelines, budget info etc in one single xls logically divided into different sheets. Extremely useful.
I am good with numbers – not excellent but very good indeed. Math being my favorite subject could have played a role here. Also I can add, subtract numbers faster with pen and paper than with a Calculator.. I am very bad in using calci; it just slows me down.
I have a very bad memory. However I guess it’s a little selective and extremely good in a few cases. Like for studies and all, I don’t have to read things twice. I used to study only a day or two before my exam and get good marks. People who know me used to be really surprised coz they would always find me either watching TV or reading novels and hence used to be amazed by my rank. Anyways I find it extremely difficult to remember small things and To do’s.. If it was not for the alarm and reminder features in cell phones, I don’t know what I would have done. I put reminders for every little and big thing.
I am very cool. (I just noticed this is exactly the same numbered bullet as Amu’s :-) ). Btw Amu has quoted me wrong there- I say “Isse zyaada cool honge toe freeze kar jayenge”. This was said when AOL classes were beginning in our college in order to make u less tension free and calm/cool you down. And my reaction was we (as in I, Amu and Basu) don’t need it.
I am allergic to dust. One tiny particle of dust and I go all sneezing n sneezing. And it’s not like one or two sneezes.. it’s like a long marathon with few seconds breaks in between. This makes cleaning the room or relocating (in short anything that get’s me in close contact with dust) an actual sickening activity for me.
Even on the hottest summery days, I generally don’t feel the need of switching ON the fan. I am very susceptible to cold and one daft of cold air is enough for me to break into “Sneezes”. Before I was married, I was like what if I am married to a guy who can’t live without fan. This was one of the first things I had said to M after I got to know him better. He does love his fan but poor M.. he has been made to live without it by yours truly. Btw in case I say it’s hot, it is actually damn hot.
I am a big fan of Lord Ganesha and his dad, Lord Shiva. Actually I love the whole family. I have always thought that you should have a husband like Lord Shiva and a son like Lord Ganesha, the cutie pie.. :-) (And per M a daughter like me.. ;-) ). My friend Amu’s belief in Lord Ganesha is also something that gives me strength. It’s very spiritual and real. I am not an overtly religious person but I do perform all the rituals that I can. I have kept the “Solah Somawaar” fasting a lot of time.. (Before u even think about it, it was never to request Shivaji for a good husband.. I don’t know why but whenever I tell anyone I do “Solah Somawaar” they are like “It must be for a husband”.. jaise ki aur koi kaam nahi hein mujhe.. (rolling my eyes)..) Anyways when I am at home doing this fasting.. I need to have each and every required puja ingredients with me. However then again I have done this fasting while I was in US and there I just used to light a diya and pray. So it’s like I do what I can, knowing that He understands.
According to my friends “Mujhe sab achche lagte hein (I like everyone and also everything..)”. :-) If anyone asks me opinion about someone else my first statement is he/she is good. Even if I think they have some –ve, I will state that but then tell all the +ve things that I see in the person and end in a +ve note :-) Except for a few (very few) people who give me –ve vibes, I generally give benefit of my good opinion to everyone. Nearly a year back I lost friendship with someone who I used to consider one of my best friends. We parted on very bitter terms and I am unlikely to ever forget all the things that she said to me.. However to anyone else I still say she is good and just that we two didn’t hit it off.
I am a strong believer of the phrase – “Whatever happens, happens for good”.
I have great FRIENDS. Touchwood!! I am blessed with friends that anyone would kill for.. My friends are so amazing; they just make my world merrier by the second. My family is just PERFECT. To add to this, my in-laws are so nice, I feel more like a daughter than a bahu. My cup runneth over with all the love and care.
I have a wonderful and very dependable support system in my friends and family, whose opinions I value a lot. Before making any big decision, I like to know their take on it. The decision is mine but I like knowing different points of view. Sometimes we don’t even think about a certain situation and discussing things with others just broadens your horizon.
Hmm.. lets end this tag with a goal – Personally, I would like to learn swimming and play tennis. On the professional front, I would like to learn more on how to manage people better.

Phew!!!! I completed this in 3 seatings and gosh.. it was tough..

I tag: Ashwani, Chitra, Mukesh and Vivekanand.

Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-14T17:36:00.008+05:30

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!! (and a special one to my dear hubby. :-)) Below is something that I started to write before going home for my wedding.. never got a chance to finish it off.. anyways here it is.. some half baked, unfinished thoughts..

"Unless of course I get time next week and I am out of normal lazy mood, this is going to be my last post as a single girl. Life is taking a big giant leap. Its difficult to categorize all the thoughts that are popping up in my head. I am excited about my new life, but also worried if it's gonna be better than the one I have right now. I will have someone to share my life with, someone who will be just mine, someone who has to bear all my mood swings ;-) but the catch being same would be other way round.. even I have to adjust with his moods. :-). I will have to be his first if I want him to be mine. I know I will try my level best but just hope that we (M & I) do not regret our decision to spend our life together. I am not a very patient person but I know M is. His love gives me so much strength, I just don't know what I would do if one day it's not there anymore. This is pretty ironic coming from a girl who never thought she would fall in love. I used to be so scared thinking.. maybe I will live my entire life and never know what's love. I will marry, have kids, lead a full life without maybe knowing what's love.. but here I am happily in love and looking forward to my life ahead. Can't wait for all of it to begin. :-D"

Happy Valentine's Day dear "M"!!

First Post – A wedding post

2009-01-31T22:54:00.004+05:30

First post of the New Year. It’s really amazing how soon time flies. I have just come back from home after a long vacation. A planned vacation of 3 weeks got stretched into 5. My vacation turned out to be better than my expectation. I had the time of my life during the past 5 weeks. The vacation started with preparations of my wedding. As soon as I reached home (which was just 4 days prior to the marriage), some or other marriage related function /puja had begun. Everyday I used to get all decked up in a new saree and sit while the whole world fretted around me. :-) Thanks to my work, I didn’t have any time to complete my shopping in Bangalore hence all days leading up to the D day my sisters were busy shopping for my wedding trousseau. (My sisters - S & M -have really done a LOT of work in my wedding – Can’t really believe it since the image I carry of them fits into the mold of super lazy gals :-D However both S & M were like 2 additional hands for both my mom and dad)

So while my sisters were busy shopping, I was happily enjoying all the attention. My relatives used to come and ask how was I feeling, was I scared, nervous or excited about my wedding, etc, etc.. My bhabhis and chachijis were teasing me taking M’s name. I was pretty cool about everything. My response to them was a polite “I am very happy” followed with a blushing smile. However to my dear aunt (Reshma Aunty) I would tell the truth which was – “I am very excited with all the things going around but I still don’t feel as if I am getting married. It’s more like I have come to attend a family wedding.” You see even with all this ho-halla, not even for a single moment did I feel as if I was getting married. Go figure! My aunt was like “Hope you feel like you are married after your marriage”. :-D. This is how I felt till the D day. Not until the pheras ended and it was time for M to put sindur on me did I realize that I was getting married and my life is going to change or shall I say I was married and my life had changed :-D. The wedding was such a fun event with everyone including me enjoying it to the hilt; I didn’t realize that it was my wedding. You see I never thought I would have so much fun in my own marriage. J I have never danced so much in my entire life as I have danced during my wedding. It was just dance-dance-dance from day 1. It has been quite a different experience from the one I imagined. For example I used to think the poor bride and groom must be feeling so silly and stupid during their reception when they are sitting on the stage with a Colgate smile on their face while the whole world is staring at them, enjoying good food and music, having friendly banter with friends and family, etc, etc.. The bride and groom must be so nervous being the centre of attraction. However I had a very different experience; I was pretty calm during the reception and it was an event filled with fun and laughter. Thanks to the almighty, there were no scary moments. Even though the number of actual guests was twice the expected numbers and the baarat travelled for 6 hours to reach the venue, everything was perfect. There was no shortage of food, place to stay, vehicles to carry the guests around or any other itty-bitty things that are needed. There were no bitter words exchanged between anyone, no delays, no mood swings, no tantrums from any of our relatives, etc – there was actually not a single thing to complain about during the whole wedding. It was just Perfect! All the functions starting with Chaak Bhaat to Sangeet to Wedding and the Bidaai went on smoothly. All of my as well as M’s relatives and friends were closely involved in all the things.

There were many new concepts that were tried during various functions in my wedding ceremony – at least new as per the general Marwari wedding that takes place. We had a very well planned and choreographed Sangeet. Till the penultimate day, we had thought it would be a flop show but it turned out to be one big hit. :-) I along with my friends and relatives danced a lot in my chaak bhaat –Brides don’t usually attend it. On the day of the wedding, when I was supposed to go to the stage for Varmaala, I was taken their in a Doli with my chachaji’s and friends holding it in their shoulders. My chachis, bhabhis, mom, sisters and friends were dancing in front of the Doli on the music of a Bandstand that was following us at our side. On reaching the stage, I came out of the Doli and joined my dad, mom, friends, some close relatives who were dancing near the stage. M was also pulled in and forced to do bhangara.. :-) The Doli concept turned out to be the HIGH point of the marriage. People are still talking about it – both at my parent’s and in-law’s side.

(During all this time I was silently contemplating as to why I was not feeling scared or apprehensive or different about my new life – maybe it was because of the comfort level I have with M. He is so frank and approachable that I can always be myself with him. I have shared so many of my stupid talks/experiences/thoughts with him, it’s a wonder that he still went ahead and married me. Poor M. I warned him enough :-D)

After the wedding, I reached my in-law’s place. After spending 2 days there (everyone who is anyone came to see me and gave me goodies as part of my muh-dikhai), we started for our planned trip to Thailand. Let it be sufficient to say I had a great time there with M. While coming back from there, I stopped at my parent’s house and celebrated Christmas there with my family. At our home, we celebrate Christmas in a big way. Getting a tree and putting it in the Aangan, decorating it with lights and streamers, playing music at full blast and dancing. Generally my little sister and kid bro call their friends. This time around with M also in the picture, the celebration had an added fervor. On 26^th I was back at my in-laws place. We had to start back for Blr on 28^th, however I started feeling a little feverish on 27^th and got really high fever on 28^th. I and M had to extend our vacation due to this. I did fall sick however the amount of care and pampering that I got from my in-laws just made up for all the cold shivers, pain and fever. :-)

So all in all it was a thoroughly satisfying vacation. I could not have even dreamt of a better wedding. And now I am back in Bangalore. You know after being at home for 5 weeks, you have to physically push yourself everyday to go to office everyday and that’s what I have been doing for sometime now. ;-)

A picture says more than..

2008-10-23T21:31:00.010+05:30

.. a thousand words, they say. :-) And I couldn't have said it in any better way.

The picture below aptly summarizes my state of mind right now. Things are moving as planned. With many old tasks coming to a successful closure (small setbacks here and there are best ignored) and new tasks to look forward to, life is indeed smiling.

Next on Agenda: Enjoy a relaxed vacation. I am flying home on Saturday. However with the amount of shopping that I plan to do in the one week that I am there, I am not quite sure how relaxing it will turn out to be. Anyways, lets see how it goes. Before I sign off, here's wishing you all a very Happy and fun filled Deepawali!!

Travelogue - GOA - Day1

2008-10-01T01:25:00.002+05:30

Note: This blog started about 5 months back and is still a work in progress. :-) Thanks mainly to the lazyness of Rachna's and mine. Finally we have been able to write about day 1 of our trip - an amazing & unforgettable trip to a beautiful idyllic place that too in the company of a few best of friends - nothing can beat this for sure. We had a wonderful 4 day stay in Goa and will try to recount some tales to tell. Considering that it took us 5 months to write about Day 1.. Ahem.. I guess you can expect the remaining details soon. ;-)

The idea:

Ashwani: The day Ashi popped the idea of this trip; I was not sure if I will be able to materialize it but then came the power pack gal, Rachna in all her always nodding mode. So these 2 gr8 souls were in no mood of dropping the idea.... I thought who will save them if the coconuts would drop on them in Goan streets? Who will save them from the ugly headed, heavy mustached fatso? So my superman spirit arose and I booked the tickets!!

Ashma: Since returning from US, I was getting restless to go on a trip and meet up with my friends. I had always wanted to go to Goa but not during those crowded New Year season so April seemed like the best ‘off-season’ time to go there. And if you get to go there with a couple of your best friends, nothing can top that experience. So as soon as I had this idea, I sent a mail to them to gauge their restlessness level and I was not disappointed ;-). A few declined due to conflicting priorities but then a few agreed. As per expectation Rachna was the first one IN (she is another ghumakkad) and Ashwani was caught between his desire to meet us and his protective instinct to save us from those ‘ugly headed, heavy mustached fatso’. The moment we learnt about this chink in his armor, we just kept on pounding till he agreed.. :-D

Rachna: Goa …we made a million plan to visit this place and screwed it million and one times but this time I was in no mood to give it up half way. One fine day when I was on a “knowledge Sharing plan “at Aarhus (Denmark…another sweet placeJ)), Ashma poped the idea of this trip…n I was like “me in…me in” (by this time I was already travelling a lot, bitten by travel bug) …we got a lot of “me in “messages which boosted our morale further. As the chain mail went on growing we realized only two of us (Ash n me) had confirmed. Ashwani was like “tu aa ja waapis phir dekhte hai…finally after a lot of brain washing n wooing Ashwani gave in…he is not a tough guy u see…we are tougher ;).As we saw it…it would be ashma’s last “Single Status” trip (BTW she is getting married this year…I wish her wid all good things in life n even more for his counterpart…u see “he” deserves more.)Ashwani n I was determined to make it memorable for her. We planned to do all sort of wild things….ppl hold on. Don’t let ur imagination flyJ).I had started collecting paraphernalia for our trip.

The beginning:

Ashwani: I had not met Rachna after her return from Denmark, so our ‘bharat milap’ happened in the flight only. We kept talking till the eternity of the sky.... it stopped only with our plane’s landing in the Goan airport ... Till this time the old aged bingo gazed us if we had given her the severe headache?? Did we Rachho? Rachho u seriously talk too loud yaar :)
During flight I poured all the philosophies on Rachho and she was drowned till waist when we landed in goa :) We found the Goan airport beautiful..its wooden work gave it a more sophisticated look compared to other airports. It is small and beautiful!!

Ashma: For a change my day started pretty early and ended early too. :-) To catch the 4 pm flight from the airport, I left office at 12. (Yes u read correctly, its 12 and its PM not AM.. I do leave office at noon sometimes) Since my house is on the way from my office to airport, I went home first, did some last minute packing, grabbed a bite and hopped into a ric. In between all these things, I took out time to call my family and friends to let them know that I was starting and will call once I reach Goa. On my way to airport, I realized I forgot to take my DL (now since we had plans to rent 2 wheelers there, absence of a DL could have been a major setback). I called Ashwani and asked him not to forget his DL and also ask Rachna to get hers. Ok once this call was made, I relaxed. Reached airport on time and since the flight was also on schedule, I boarded the plane on time too. :) This was my first kingfisher flight and I had a nice experience. Being the couch potato that I am, I loved the TV of course. Watched the movie 'Superstar', found it a good time pass, have to watch it again since i was unable to see till the end: - Blr-Goa flight just takes 45 mins!! :-D Landed on time, Rachna’s uncle had come to pick me up from airport, went to their house and had lovely snacks and tea there. So I was happily eating and chatting, and chatting and eating, waiting for these 2 to land.

Rachna: The day started on a rather eventful note. I had bought “Ghagara and Choli” from my jaipur trip for the two of us (Ashma and me). We planned to use them in Goa. Since the choli was a cloth piece I took Ashma’s measure on phone and gave it the tailor here to get them stitched. I was supposed to get it a day before our actual travel. It did not happen and the lady tailor asked me to come on the “eventful day” but fate had other plans #@%%%%^^&&&... On the fine “Eventful day”, lady tailor gave me back the cloth piece .Lucky for her I was in my best mood and spirits, I came out using all the slang’s that I knew till date(include the ones I learnt here in Delhi)…***^^^^$$$$###%%%%@@.I am still cursing her ….. Some more@@@@$$$%%%^^7, (I am a content girl nowJ).we had flight at 4:45 PM.I left office early but Sameer insisted on dropping me till 12-22(Bus stop) so that we could have a plate of magi on our way. So our gang headed towards the “XANSA” office ke saamne wala magi ka stall. When we were still digging over magi…I got a call from Ashwani that we had to board flight on this day not the other. Finally caught up wid Ashwani and we boarded the flight and poured in our philosophies…talked, talked and kept talking more.2 and half hour passed away glee fully. Once out of plane we were in a quaint, warm panaji airport. It was the first time I liked wooden furnishing. Followed next was Bade papa’s place….

The first sight:

Ashwani: When we were moving to Rachna's uncle's residence, I was waiting to give Ashi surprise. My eyes were searching her when reached in the apartments. But before I could locate her, she had already seen me. Her voice was similar as i listened on phone but now more lively :)
Wht followed, Hugging, laughing, smiles, greetings..... It was like a meeting of 2 beggars who used to beg together on the same platform and the other beggar moved to some other station accidentally and finally returned back after missing it too much. Who said I am the beggar? I am talking abt u two :)

Ashma: At her house, Rachna’s aunt asked me if I would like to go down to the play area in their apartment complex. Since I could see a lot of beautiful kids playing there, I said Ok. After a while, I got an official call and while I was on it, I saw a cab approaching and these 2 morons jumped out of it. I was so happy; I started shouting their names forgetting that I was still on phone and the person on the other line actually got scared as to what happened. I happily informed him that I was in Goa to enjoy my vacation and that sweet fellow disconnected the phone telling me to ‘Have fun!’ Rachna and Ashwani were so surprised (and happy) to see me, u would have wondered if they were actually expecting me there. It seems Ashwani (in yet another of his flop ideas) had planned that Rachna will tell me that he missed his flight and now would be coming to Goa the next day. As if I would have believed that (rolling my eyes). I was meeting Ashwani after a gap of nearly 2.5 years but it was like we had never been apart. After that,… hmmm.. Ashwani has already given a damn accurate description of how those 2 greeted me. ;-)

Rachna: On our way to Bade papa’s place Ashwani’s devious mind cooked up another plan. To surprise Ashma I was to go in alone to bade papa’s house and inform Ashma about Ashwani sudden business engagement and that he could not be there for vacation. Since we all were meeting after a long time, we were all longing to see each other but yet again ash surprised us all. She was at park taking a stroll(two nonstop chatterboxes I mean bade mummy and Ashma were busy chattingJ).she saw us even before we could see her. Good SENDA MALL GIRDHARI (Ashwani I will let u know this secret) .Once there all sweet things followed….hugging, patting, muaahhs, laughter followed.

The Knights of night:

Ashwani: It was a night which was being waited for, by all.... for months! Though me the only boy between these 2 khatarnaak gulz but then they never let me feel this fact. They had higher adrenaline than me.. always ready for the adventure...We stayed in the Sea-coin hotel, near colva beach..it was one of the coolest place I have seen.. good food.. very good music. After dumping luggage in rooms...we ran to beach as police was chasing us... I stopped Ashi, otherwise she would have crossed the whole Arabian Sea and would have reached Dubai, the way she ran to sea :) Then played holi with the mud what we missed this year... No don't blame...it was Rachna again :) Then after return at room, on Ashi’s recommendation watched “The Greatest game ever”, it was a good movie about golf. I slept around 4 in morning but these 2 girls didn’t keep their mouth shut…..ohhh I am still dozing up ..!!

Ashma: After dumping our bags into our hotel rooms, we changed and ran straight to the beach. We had become kids again and we played in water for a long time. Ashwani being from Rajasthan went pretty mad looking at the sea. I and Rachna, being from Orissa and hence more aware of the existence of a water body called sea, had to be on alert. ;-) We were happily frolicking in the sea water, enjoying the ‘knight in shining armour’ persona of Ashwani. You see the arrival of a gang of men brought out this facet of his persona. After doing time-pass in the beach, we went back to our rooms. After freshening up, we were out again into the streets. This time straight to the CCD (Café coffee day for people who are from Mars) outlet near by. We sat there for couple of hours, talking about nothing and everything over steaming hot coffee. Some quick photo session followed under the bright lights of CCD. Then we went back to out hotel rooms,, saw movies till the wee hours of the morning. Ashwani got all sleepy eyed at around 4 and went to sleep while I and Rachna happily continued our chattering. :-) At around 6.30 we went to Ashwani’s room, woke him up (bechara he just got about 2 hrs sleep :-D ) and went for morning walk to the beach. And this is how we started day 2 in Goa.

Thoughts of a guest blogger

2008-09-27T13:07:00.007+05:30

This is a guest post, courtesy one of my BEST Friend.. :-)

I just had a look at the right bottom of my laptop screen. Oh it's 15 minutes past 12 in the night. But why its bothering me. Clock is ticking and time is running. I even don't know what I am missing. But yes, definitely I know that I am missing something.

I guess I am not happy with what I am doing currently, but at the same time there are so many factors that wants me to continue this dragging. Why we surrender so easily to the things ? And always tend to follow the gen formula for success.

If you are at on site be there, and keep earning 40times, so called $$$ Factor. You can be happy every month end, seeing your growing bank balance (Indian terms) and new album(visit a new place) in your picasaweb, drive great car.

If you are at offshore or not satisfied, you can actually go for MBA. Its a combo world and Engineering degree + MBA is a fast seller these days.

If you are not of these type you can choose to do nothing and like Mumbai railway stations, you will reach the destination without the effort. You can become a manager, then other roles and finally C-Level.

But have you ever given a thought what exactly you want to do and are these things really helping you get there ? 5 Years towards the past and you can see that being a PM, used to be a big and prestigious thing. And now ?? If you have spent a specified amount of time in the Industry you are a PM. Do you really want to be in that category ??

Are you sure doing MBA will help you with, what you want to do ? I guess no, you will be in the hands of similar kind of leaders and will be part of supply chain. There is a demand of Business Analyst, pick up any MBA any stream and put them there. And since you need money at month end you will accept it and continue doing the same. You will do what your manager wants you to do. Then Why MBA ?? Kabhi Socha hai ??

That was related to the so called success formulas, coming back to the factors that are impairing our decision capabilities.

1) Being a guy/girl from middle class, Risk appetite is very less. We can't afford to loose what we have to gain what we want. It need balls to risk things and support your decisions.

2) You are not alone, your family always has a say in your decisions . The decisions which are not theirs also, but which someone has convinced them on evening tea somewhere. We need to understand now that there is a lot of different between the era of our parents and us. We should take our decisions ourselves and should convince our elders that we are doing correct things.

3) Peer pressure, we generally gets carried away by this factor. We never look at the larger picture in life. We see whats happening currently and respond to those calls without even thinking if we needed that or not. If one of out peer is quiting and joining a different firm and earning more. We have to do the same it hardly matters if we will get to do something we really want to. If some colleague is going to on site, we also want to go and have similar sort of (so called) fun. Doesn't even matter if we get to work in same tech/business domain.

I am getting the shutdown signals from my brain cause need to get up early tomorrow. MONDAY Blues.. Just final words, Do not get carried away with the things. Look around, keep watching.

World is Flat and we are players in that flat world. But idea of Flat world is given by some C-level employee. It is possible that this Flat world is sucked by some Black hole in near future, at that time you will have very less options.

Watch out and do things you really like to do. Pay for your mistakes, don't spend a dime for others.

My Love is..

2008-09-04T22:16:00.001+05:30

19 Questions

2008-08-16T20:04:00.004+05:30

This one was long overdue.. tagged again by Amu and with a comment that goes ‘Ashma you should do this tag’. I had to do it of course.. :-)

1. What could be the 1 wish you will ask if a genie comes in front of you?
A: Ensure that I, my family and friends remain as happy as ever. But since happiness is determined by our own attitude so I'll ask him to grant us that attitude.

2. What could be the 1 period you would want to go in a time machine?
A: I am a hopeless romantic (when it comes to others.. somehow I don’t believe in it when I am the person involved) so I would like to go to the GWTW era. 18^th century world inhabited by dukes and duchesses.. :-)

3. What will be the 1 question you will ask if you happen to meet the captain of a UFO?
A: Can you understand what I am saying?

4. What will be the 1 thing you would do if you are to go invisible for 1 minute?
A: Nothing much can be done in that small a time. So maybe I will get myself picked up in a lucky draw with the prize being a full expense paid trip around the world. I will throw in some cash and gift vouchers into the kitty too.

5. What will be the 1 thing you do if you have 1 crore rupees rite now?
A: After confirming that it’s mine to take, first I will call up my friends and family to tell about it and then spend some part and invest some.. buy a house, etc.

6. Who will be the 1 person with whom you would love to live life long, apart from your Parents, Partner, Bro or Sis ?
A: My husband but I guess he will come under ‘Partner’. So other choice I have are my friends but choosing one person out of so many dear friends is difficult.. I need all of them.

7. What is that 1 song which you always hum, without even sensing that you are humming it?
A: Keeps on changing actually. I would listen to one song some day and it will remain in my head for days on end.

8. What is that 1 mannerism in you which can be easily noticed by others?
A: I guess my inability to stand still.

9. What will be the 1 thing which you would want to take with you to your grave?
A: No grave.. I will be cremated. :-D Anyways I will have to take something which will go there.. so maybe my good Karma, leaving behind the bad ones ;-)

10. What is that 1 habit of yours, which you are trying hard to get rid off?
A: My laziness.

11. Who is that 1 person who deserves a tight slap from you rite now?
A: I can think of no one right now.

12. What is that 1 food item you will not say NO, anytime when offered?
A: Daal chawal

13. Who will be that 1 dead famous personality, whom you would want to come back alive?
A: Right now Heath Ledger comes to mind.. (have recently seen The Dark Knight and he is very good in it)

14. Who is that 1 teacher, you would not forget anytime in your life?
A: If I have to choose one, it will be Karthik sir – He used to be my tuition sir when I was a small kid.

15. Who is that 1 friend, whom you are missing so much rite now?
A: Many – Amu, Vivek, Rachna, Ashwani – none of them are in bangalore. They are still here for me, so it’s not actually missing but I wish they were here with me.

16. What is that 1 thing you would do if you knew your death date?
A: I will make plans to enjoy my life till that day arrives and spend the whole of my last day with family and friends.

17. What is that 1 thing which you are planning to dispose for a long time and hasn’t done it yet?
A: My laziness again.

18. Who will be that 1 famous personality, with whom you would badly want to date?
A: It would be either Mel Gibson or Hugh Jackman.

19. Who is that 1 person with whom you are madly in crush rite now?
A: Right now - No one. I did see the movie Sixteen Candle couple of months back and the hero in there ‘Michael Schoeffling’ is Cuteeeeeeeeee.. :-)

Good things are being said about you..

2008-07-26T03:21:00.008+05:30

......well almost ;-) How Sweet Are You?
	You are Sweet and Sour. On the sweetness scale you are right in the middle- just like sweet and sour sauce! You have moments of true sweetness, but you also have moments of sourness. You can be helpful and nice or you can be grumpy and lazy- it just depends on what day it is. Either way, you are still a terrific person and pretty normal and your friends trust you and are totally used to your mood swings!

Which Sholay Character Are You?
	You are Jai. You are the person of great intuition. The best part of your personality is that you will go to any extent to help others without harming others, though you will not show it. You are the man of courage. Though a very serious person, you are protective about others. You always make the right decisions.

What Animal Were You In Your Past Life?
	You were unicorn. You were mysterious and noble. You have fairytale traits, and other people can only dream in envy. Your nature is completely impossible to decipher and behind all that, you know that you shine bright, for only the luckiest people get the chance to know you.

What one word embodies you?
	I am the embodiment of Beauty. You are a person that views the world as this magical place, finding beauty in almost everything. You find beauty in the most simple and fundamental things, as well as in more complex things such as people. You're not one to look for beauty, you just see it. You understand things for what they are, and expect nothing more.
Got the link through Amu's blog. Here it is:-> Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Zodiac et al.

2008-06-07T04:53:00.002+05:30

Hmm.. Sagi overrides Leo.. I've gotta give it a thought!!

Another tag.. again by Amu

2008-05-26T23:35:00.004+05:30

1. Last movie you saw in a theatre?
The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian.

2. What book are you reading?
Blink

3. Favourite board game?
Would Playing cards count?? :-) If not this, then Ludo or Monopoly.

4. Favourite magazine?
Anything actually. As a kid, I used to love ‘Nandan’ :-)

5. Favourite smell?
Estee Lauder – Pleasures

6. Favourite sound?
I like the faint sound of a ringing bell (temple sortta), the splattering sound that rain makes, etc. Hmm.. in love with Michael Buble's voice at the moment.

7. Worst feeling ever?
Pity

8. What is the first thing you think when you wake up?
Too sleepy to actually think anything so early in the morning but the first thought I have is to see if I can sleep for few more minutes.. J

9. Favourite fast food place?
I luv food. Any place is fine as long as the food is good. Hmm.. I do love the veg burgers at McD. :-D

10. Future child's name?
Itne aage ki planning nahi ki hein.. though I would definitely like to have his/her name begin with ‘A’. I like the name ‘Arjun’ (thought of it for the first time when heard Sachin named his son this.. :-).. )

11. Finish this sentence “if i had a lot of money i'd..."
find ways of spending it.. beginning with a world tour..

12. Do you drive fast?
Yes. Got speeding tickets to proof that.. :-(

13. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Nope

14. Storm cool or scary?
Cool!!!!

15. What was your first car?
Hyundai Elantra

16. Favourite drink?
Fresh lime

17. Finish this sentence "if i had the time i would?"
See all the places that I can (if I had all-the-money coupled with all-the-time I had), watch all the movies in my ‘to-see’ list

18. Do you eat the stems of broccoli?
I can have it in small quantities. I don’t like preparation where broccoli adds the main flavour.

19. If you could dye you hair,which colour would it be?
Burgundy – I am actually thinking abt it right now.. :-)

20. Name the different cities /town you have lived in?

Brajrajnagar, Rourkela, Bangalore, Greensboro (NC, USA)

21. Favourite sports watch?
I like ‘Fossils’ – not sure if it comes under the sportswatch category.. I have a ‘Fasttrack’ that’s quite cool.

22. One nice thing about the person who sent you this?
My best friend – that makes her pretty nice i think.. ;-D

23. Whats under your bed?
My suitcase which is filled with some of my clothes that I no longer feel like wearing.

24. Would you like to be reborn as yourself?
Yes. However I would love to have the independence that guys have.

25. Morning person or night owl?
Night owl..

26. Over easy,or sunny side up?
I don’t eat eggs but if I had I would have liked sunny side up. :-D

27. Favourite place to relax?
On the bed or on a sofa watching TV

28. Favourite pie?
Chocolate

8 things - Tagged by Amu

2008-05-18T22:16:00.003+05:30

8 things I am passionate about...

Movies.
Books.
Travelling.
Food. :-)
My friends and family.
My independence.
Moon, Rain and Sea – I just love them and have always been attracted to them. My friends say that since my origins are from Rajasthan, I get mad when I see water... ;-) Not sure of the attraction to moon.. hmm.. maybe coz i was born after midnight.. :-D
My work

8 things I want to do before I die...

Go for a world tour. Even if I can’t go for a world tour, I am sure I will never get ‘moksha’ if I die without seeing Paris. :-(
Have a large movie collection. I have already started work on this.. :-)
Have a library (this time of books of course :-) ) of my own.
Drive my own M&M Scorpio
Own a beach front house
Make exercise a part of my daily routine.
Write a book which at least some one buys.
Be stinking rich.. ;-)

8 things I say often…

Cool
Good hein
Moron
Aur batao? / Aur kya?
Great!
Sure
No probs
Yes, tell me..

8 books I last read

100 years of solitude
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
A thousand splendid suns
It’s not about the bike
Katie
The collected short stories of Roald Dahl.
Eleven Minutes
Blink (reading currently)

8 songs I could listen to over and over again...

Save the last dance for me
Jab koi baat bigad jaaye
Nothings gonna change
Sway with me
Can’t take my eyes off you
Zara Zara
When you say nothing at all
Everything I do

Phew!!!! very very difficult to come up with that list.. choosing just 8 from sooooooo many was a colossal task. :-)

4 people I think should do this tag...
Ashwani, Rashmi, Chitra and if you want it, it’s yours.

The ball is rolling

2008-05-10T18:59:00.006+05:30

Took a big step today - one that will hopefully make my future even better than my present. (Ok.. I will agree, it comes nowhere near the BIG giant leap that I took last month but then lets talk about it some other time)

I have set the ball rolling before I have time to think & rethink my decision and then have the luxury to back out. Let’s pray that I finally come out of my ‘Lazzy gurl’ mode (as M called me recently :-)..) and start preparing for the road ahead.

Oh how I need all the luck that I can get my hands on now!!

Here is a girl

2008-03-21T21:39:00.005+05:30

I got it as a forward a pretty long time back. Have got it again & again many a times after that. Couldn't help myself from sharing it here. I guess guys also have similar apprehenstions as well as expectations about marriage as we girls do. And guess this sums it up in a neat way. What you want, at the end of the day, is understanding and love from your better half.

As most of you might know, this is an old post which has been dissected. crtiticized and hailed like anything.. :)

Here is a girl,

who is as much educated as you are;

who is earning almost as much as you do;

one, who has dreams and aspirations just as you have because she is as human as you are;

one, who has never entered the kitchen in her life just like you or your sister haven't, as she was busy in studies and competing in a system that gives no special concession to girls for their culinary achievements;

one, who has lived with and loved her parents and brothers and sisters, almost as much as you do for 20-25 years of her life;

one, who has bravely agreed to leave behind all that, her home, people who love her, to adopt your home, your family, your ways and even your family name;

one, who is somehow expected to be a master-chef from day #1, while you sleep oblivious to her predicament in her new circumstances, environment and that kitchen;

one, who is expected to make the tea, first thing in the morning and cook food at the end of the day, even if she is as tired as you are, maybe more, and yet never ever expected to complain; to be a naukraani, a cook, a mother, a wife, even if she doesn't want to; and is learning just like you are as to what you want from her, and is clumsy and sloppy at times and knows that you won't like it if she is too demanding or if she learns faster than you;

one, who has her own set of friends, and that includes boys and even men at her workplace, too, those, who she knows from school days and yet is willing to put all that on the back-burners to avoid your irrational jealousy, unnecessary competition and your inherent insecurities;

yes, she can drink and dance just as well as you can, but won't, simply because you won't like it, even though you say otherwise;

one, who can be late from work once in a while when deadlines, just like yours, are to be met;

one, who is doing her level best and wants to make this most important relationship in her entire life a grand success, if you just help her some and trust her;

one, who just wants one thing from you - your unstinted support, your sensitivities and most importantly - your understanding and love.

Are you man enough to give it to her?

Jodhaa Akbar

2008-02-27T00:23:00.021+05:30

Disclaimer: The review contains some spoilers. Don't read this if you are very interested in watching the movie and are looking forward to it.

Had gone to see this movie with some expectations. Expectations were quite a few from the mega budget movie with a wonderful actor – Hrithik playing the lead and an oscar-nominated director – Ashutosh Gowarikar at its helm. I had also braced myself for reality aka disappointment so as to get the expectations in check. :) To add to that, I am not an Aishwaryaa Rai fan. None the less I went to see the movie expecting a beautiful love story. I was ready to disregard any historical errors that crop up. As the name suggested, it was to be a love story between a guy and a girl – Akbar and Jodhaa, who just happened to be emperor of India and a rajput princess respectively. And that’s what Mr.AG had been promising us - a love story and not a history lesson. At the very beginning, the movie claims this too – i.e., it’s a love story between two individuals to the point of even playing down the importance (and the controversy - this is another matter that our highly intolerant mentality still made an issue out of it) around the queen’s name.

So with these things on my mind, I started watching the movie. The first thing that struck me was the thought that Mr.AB is back again (don't know why he needs to have some input in everything now a days - either he or his voice is present in 99% of the movies and commercials.. ok.. I know thats a bit of an exaggaration but he ought to make himself a little scarce). Okay if we leave him aside, the movie starts & we find ourselves in the middle of a battlefield. Kind of expected in a period movie. What was not expected is the way the scene was shot. It was funny to the point of being downright kiddish. I somehow don't know how you can shoot a battle scene with no strategical thinking to it, where ppl are just running towards each other to embrace or maybe to do the chest-thumping hi-5's a la paes-bhupathi. At least that's how it seemed to me. So we see a teen Akbar being groomed by a prosaic bairam khan. The next thing we know, Akbar has grown into an ever-so-handsome Hrithik, who quickly but very effectively makes it clear that he is the boss. The scene also establishes the presence of an ethical mind.

The movie than criss-crosses between the life of the emperor and the rajput princess. Aishwaryaa looks beautiful in the part but that's why she is there in the first place. :) The princess is betrothed to a rajput prince(I will never understand why they make such characters so ugly looking.. maybe they dot want the girl to get tempted to stay and not leave the poor guy), whose father breaks off the engagement. The plot, with a slow pace and loads of unwanted scenes, webs together the marriage of politics between the two. And now starts the movie that Mr.AG had been promising us and took a really looooong time to come to. The journey that Akbar and Jodhaa make together has been conveyed well. The loathing/fear(on Jodhaa's part) and curiosity(on Akbar's part) gets gradually transformed into mutual respect -to- attraction -to- trust -to- love. And the direction of these scenes are brilliant. You can feel their feelings for each other change and gradually evolve into a deep bond. There are a lot of unforgettable and beautiful scenes in the movie:
- The scene where Akbar sees the face of his new bride for the first time. Hrithik is just amazing in this scene with his expressions showing us everything he is supposed to be feeling. I have fallen in love with him all over again. :D
- The scene where Jodhaa puts her two demands to Akbar in order to agree for the marriage. I somehow thought she expected him to refuse and I loved her reaction when he indeed agrees.
- The sequence where she prepares food for her husband and is asked to taste the food first to ensure that its not poisoned. I loved Hrithik's expressions in this scene. It's like 'oh. comeon let me eat first.. i would prefer that I die rather than her if it is indeed poisoned'. You can see his anxiety in there.
- The immediate sequence where he asks that he will eat from the same plate that jodhaa had used.
- All the small scenes taking place when 'jashn-e-bahara' song was playing. Especially liked the one where Akbar is trying hard to 'listen-to' his dai-maa's lecture :)
- The scene where Akbar asks his gaurds to throw his evil cousin from the terrace is also good. It shows us his anger and capability to be cruel if need be.
- The sword practice where Akbar is showing off his toned body well aware that Jodhaa is watching.. ;-)
- The sword-fight sequence between Jodhaa and Akbar when he is in Amer to take her back with him. It reminded me of 'The Mask of Zorro' :)
- The scene just before this is also good. The verbal fight that they have when they are in their chamber.
- Liked the scene where Jodhaa writes her hubby's name and he confesses on being illiterate.
- The fight in the end between Akbar and his brother-in-law, a straight rip-off from troy. It was good none the less.

Even though there are some really beautiful scenes in the movie, the presence of the n+1 unwanted, poorly scripted and acted scenes just make it unbearable. If I start jotting down the ridiculous scenes in the movie, it will take me quite a few days and LOADS of words, so I am gonna just leave it out. If the movie had remained true to its name, it would have made a gr8 romantic movie. But Mr.AG seemed undecided whether he wants to make a romantic movie or a historical one. In the end, he ends up making neither. There were so many scenes that could have been so easily deleted thus giving respite to the viewers too. At a length of some 3hr 20 min, it was tooooo long. All the more heightened due to the weak screenplay and flow of the plot. I was actually waiting for the interval to come (it was all too late coming 120 min after the start) and then for the movie to end.

Hrithik as usual was brilliant. This man has done all sorts of roles and convinced me in each of them that there is no one else who could have played it better. It is near impossible to see anyone else in the role of Akbar other than Hrithik. So here I am all over in love again. The scenes between Hrithik and Aishwarya are brilliant and I would give most part of that credit to Hrithik's performance. Aishwaryaa looked beautiful and is good in many scenes but also her insipid self in few others. Thank god she redeems herself in many scenes and thank you AG for giving her as less dialogs as possible. Rest of the actors are plain and simple 'bad'. None of the other supporting actors, with the exception of Sonu Sood (i didn't recognize him :-) ), make an impression, actually they make a bad impression. Kulbhashan Kharbanda was the worst I think - he looked so spineless for a king. Loved Raja Murad - his was a guest appearance, can't actually count him as a supporting actor. He has a lovely voice, you can't help noticing it.

The music is very good. A R Rehman just keeps on vending out beautiful musical notes. I specially loved the 'Jashn-e-bahara' song. Even 'Mann mohana', 'In lamho', 'Azeem-o-shaan' and 'Khawja' have good soulful music. The music is very romantic and meets/(exceeds?) the expectation from AR Rehman when it comes to Romance.

Overall the movie is too long and boring. There are many not-to-be-missed scenes but then it would be better if you wait for the DVD to come out and watch the movie after fast forwarding the many other useless scenes. After putting 3.30 hrs into this movie, I came out feeling disappointed and a bit angry too. Angry coz the movie could have been so much better and made a name as a classic romantic movie. It already has some very brilliant sequences to boost of. I might see the movie again but I am gonna wait for the DVD release. :)

A human shadow

2008-02-07T20:47:00.003+05:30

What Kind of a Shadow are you?

You are a human shadow. If a loved one needs you, you are always right at his or her heels! Your deep social connection with human beings produces your qualities of genuine caring and charisma. However, at times you are naive to the true nature of your loved ones. Remember that humans' gift of free will does not always lead them in wise directions. But your essence of love and friendship represent the other precious gifts of humanity. Overall you are a strikingly valuable and innocent being who has a lot to give.

Take this quiz!

How is it that..

2008-02-05T21:49:00.000+05:30

- ….. Life is looking better and worse at the same time.
- ….. I am ecstatic about the way forward as well as skeptic about it.
- ….. I want to get more responsibilities and I feel bad(somehow not serving enough) if I don’t get them. However when I do get more responsibilities, I am afraid of failing and not fulfilling expectations.
- ….. I like what I am working on but at times I hate it like anything. (I guess this is a universal phenomena in the world of IT professionals.. :-))
- ….. Every time I get hurt, it’s always followed by guilt that I must have done something which led to all this hurt. I hate feeling so guilty and when I vent out my guilt, people think I am trying to feel great by being humble, guilty (?) and that makes me feel more guilty. :-( Maybe I do just that. And now that I am writing it, maybe I am trying to be 'greater' still.
- ….. I want to get in a better shape (literally), get up early, exercise, etc but I also feel like sleeping that extra hour, minutes, seconds whenever I can.
- ….. I show what I feel and wish I was more in control of my expressions. At the same time, I wish I never loose this facet of my persona.
- ….. I expect less from others (I hope so) and even then sometimes I feel let down. However even after trying my best I am failing expectations of some people.
- ….. I am a selfish hard-core Arian but I also care about others and try to put myself in their shoes.
- ….. Life is indeed contradictions or is it contradictions that constitute life?

Hmmm.. Maybe it’s just me!!!!

My best friend's wedding - I

2008-01-26T23:59:00.000+05:30

My best friend, Amu just got married, on 20th Jan to be precise. I had been looking forward to her marriage since the day I learnt she has given her concurrence to marry K*. K is a really nice and sweet guy who will give his 100% to keep her happy. Someone who will pamper her with his love and care plus give her a breathing space. (Though I agree I had my reservations about him when I first heard about it.. I was like.. "Come on you can get a better guy".. u know the kind of feeling u have for your best friend as if no one is good enough for him/her.. :)..)

*(Sidenote#1 - When talking about him with her and between us friends, we call him 'K'.. :-D)

So I had been busy with my own set of preparations for the D-day.. (arre I am one of the bride’s best friend, I gotta look great too.. ;-) and that means hard work!!

So I started with something like..

"It’s my best friend's marriage, what do I wear??". I couldn't just wear a salwar suit.. that is something you were in every other function/event.
"Should I get a lahenga?" - Naah,.. wouldn't be worth the cost. I will wear it to one marriage and then what!!
"I will get a sari!!" - Yup. That's what I will get a good sari. Ok.. one decision made.. Pheeew!! :-p

Then I started hunting for a sari. Went to loads of shops here in Bangalore and finally zeroed in on a beautiful mustard yellow colored sari. Since it was a day-time marriage ceremony, I didn't want to get a dark, bright sari which will make people run for anti-glare specs!! Since this was the first time I bought a sari for myself, I happily called up everyone I know to tell them about this. :) While I was happily telling my aunt* about my recent purchase, she says "Ok.. you got the sari.. good.. hope you know you have to accessorize it". I (rolling my eyes) was like "What's that????". And then I got a list of things I had to give my complete attention to, from buying bangles, necklace, earrings, bindi to sandals. Per her, it should either be matching or contrast based on how the blouse is? (matching vs contrast)!!

*(Sidenote#2 - My aunt = my bua aka my father's sister.. she is just 8 years elder to me and more like a sister-cum-friend-cum-activity partner-cum-stress buster-cum-secret keeper and the role is same vice-versa)

I started again on my shopping expedition.. everyone who knows me and I mean EVERYONE (I am not just talking about my friends and family here but also my colleagues, ppl whom I met in the bus while commuting to office, etc) , now knows about my recent shopping experiences. With help from my friends, I was able to accomplish this task. Special thanks here should go to Chitra, my friend who is a localite & who loves shopping as much as I do. She took me to this really amazing bangle shop, Bhawani Kangan, located in Jayanagar, B'lore. Hey if you like beautiful, colorful bangles, you are gonna love this shop. :-)

Next thing on the 'To-do' list was my tickets to and from Bbsr. Since I didn't have the luxury of taking more than a day off, I decided to fly. (Thank God, Amu decided to marry on a Sunday, a weekday would have led to downright fight with my PM. I just took 2 weeks off during diwali. :) ).

So once I tied all the loose ends here, I started calling up ppl again to extol and bore them with this info. In between all these talks I realized, in my excitement to buy things for myself, I haven't bought a gift for her. :-(.

Choosing a gift for someone is a HUGE responsibility. And if the person turns out to be your best friend, the task gets even harder. And to top it all, if it’s her marriage.. well you can imagine the Herculean effort that one has to put in. She is tying the knot and I am the one having anxiety attacks on what gift to get for her and the ‘would be’. For quite a few weeks before the D-day, I have been channeling all my thoughts, concentration & effort on this task. If you have interacted with me (through mails, messenger, phone, and face-2-face) during this period, I am sure you already know about this. ;-). After listening to suggestions from a lot of folks and inputs from some friends, I finally got her a wedding gift*. Hope she likes it. She did say something about liking it.

*(Sidenote#3 - While booking flight tickets to bbsr, it did occur to me that I could save up the fare and give her a big gift but then my being there is a better gift.. what say?? ;-p

This was all that I had to put in while preparing for my best friend's wedding.. more on the actual wedding ceremony and post-wedding updates coming soon!!

A promise fulfilled

2008-01-12T01:04:00.000+05:30

So Mr. Ratan Tata has delivered on the promise he made some years back (4 years from what I read in newspapers) to us Indians. With the unveiling of 'Tata Nano' on Jan 10,2008 at AutoExpo,2008, he has handed over the 'people's car' to the common people. With a price tag of Rs 1 lakh, its the world's least expensive 4 wheeler. The moment I heard about its launch, I wanted to write a few lines related to it. Not about the car but about the man.

We will have to reserve our judgement on the 'Nano' till the time its ready to drive onto the Indian roads. There are still many miles to go on that. The price which will flare up after including all the taxes that needs to be paid. Everyone has concerns over the safety and fuel emission standards of the car. There are also concerns on the impact of large scale buying of this car on our already poor infrastructure. But lets keep it for others to divulge/discuss/dissect on.

This post is the only way I could think of to salute the man behind the Nano, a man who saw a small family's plight, made a promise to himself and the nation and then had the courage & vision to fulfill it against all sorts of challenges (rising cost, ridicule from his peers and sundry, and loads of technical/financial challenges which I am sure I can't even comprehend).

Whatever happens to Nano, Mr. Tata, you simply rock!!

Tata's Nano

What being "Me" entails..

2008-01-07T19:15:00.000+05:30

Flicked it from Amu's blog.. (By now, you must know I love these things.. ;-).. )

What Ashma Means

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.

You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.
You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong.

You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.
You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.

You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out.
Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia.
Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated.
You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want.
You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way!

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

20 Questions -- Tagged by Amu

2008-01-02T16:11:00.001+05:30

Instructions: Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged.

1. Name Three Most Valuable Assets?

Friends/family, Positive outlook and a viewpoint (along with a willingness to change if it’s wrong)

2. If you have the chance, what would you probably say to your beloved one?

Thank you for making my life beautiful.

3. If you were to be stranded on a desert island, who are the 3 (i am making it 4) blog buddies you would take with you?

Amu – She is my best friend and has impacted my life (in a very positive way) more than she knows. Will have her for all the whacky, non-sense, intelligent, funny discussions that we have.
Ashwani – For all the philosophical discussions that he initiates.

Rashmi – For all the fun that we have together. (along with the fights ;-)..)

Vivekanand – For all the laughter that he provides.

4. Where is the place that you want to go the most?

Paris – I have always dreamt of having a cozy/romantic dinner in any of the open air Parisian café/ restaurants and waltzing through the streets of Paris at night.

5. If you can have 1 dream to come true, what would it be?

OMG. Lots of dreams. Maybe that one dream would be ‘a situation where all my dreams come true’. All I want is everything :)

6.Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most?

I miss by grandfather a lot and I regret not being able to share my joys and achievements (small though they are) with him. I am sure he would have been excited, happy and proud.

7. What are you afraid to lose the most?

My independence

8. What would you do if you found a briefcase full of money?

My first reaction would be to take it, next one to try and find the owner and the last one to submit it to the police dept.

9. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?

I would like to think that I would but I don’t think I will.

10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you.

Amu – an invaluable friend, intelligent person, witty companion and I love her.

11. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?

His understanding & friendship.

12. Which type of person do you hate the most?

People who say something in front and something very different behind you.

13. What is your ambition?
Be stinking rich ;-). Lead a happy and exciting life.

14. What is the thing that will make you think someone is a bad person?

A person who is wishing bad for someone else. Not the people who say just for the heck of it and don’t really mean it. But people who really mean for something bad to happen to the other person.

15. Christmas is coming, who do you like to celebrate with?

This Christmas is over. Christmas will come again next year. Abhi itni dur ke plans nahi banaye hein.

16. If you could do one thing different in life, what would it be?

I would have requested God for giving me the pleasure of my grandfather’s company for a few more years.

17. Are you a shopaholic or no?

I am an impulsive shopper. Though I think I am not a shopaholic as I am always within my means.

18. What is your stress buster?
Talking to my friends. They are my stress busters (and some times stress creators too.. ;-)

19. It would be 2008 in a few days, do you have a new year’s resolution?

Yes. The universal, most common and vague one. Will try and loose some weight. :-)

20. (My question) What’s one thing in yourself that you would like to change?

My moodiness. I do /don’t do things based on my current mood and sometimes it's pretty abrupt.

And now it's my turn... huhahahahaha.. :-) I would like to tag the following-

Ashwani, Chitra, Rashmi and Vivek.

Aaja Nachle

2007-12-11T21:45:00.000+05:30

Saw ‘Aaja Nachle’ this weekend. I had been eagerly waiting for the release of the movie since the time I first saw the teaser some 6 months back. I was in US and we had gone to a nearby town to watch the hindi movie ‘Eklavya’. Seeing Madhuri Dixit dance to the beats of ‘aaja nachle’ (the title track of the movie – though at that time it was just the music playing as the songs had not released yet), I got pretty excited and started looking forward to the movie. So the moment I heard the film has released, I was waiting to see it. Didn’t get chance at the first weekend (thanks to yet another exam that I had to give). I didn’t want to read the reviews of this movie. It has happened since quite some time when ghastly movies have been praised like anything and good ones have been blasted left, right and centre. But even after intentionally avoiding reading the review column of the newspaper, I heard bits and pieces of it…. from friends, colleagues, and all who have either seen the movie or as in most cases, read the reviews.

Being a HUGE madhuri fan, I went to watch the movie with as unbiased and open mind as I could. So when the lights went dim and the movie started rolling in, I waited in anticipation for madhuri to dazzle the screen as she always does. I actually felt goose pimples on my hands when her name floated across the screen. And then she sizzled on screen urging us to dance with her. I do agree that I was a bit disappointed with the start.. somehow madhuri should have got a better entry than that for sure and the director fell short here. And then we all saw the same madhuri back on screen. It was like she has never been away. I am not sure how she felt coming back in front of the camera 2 kids hence.

The movie did start off fine. And even though she looked a bit old (something the makeup man/camera man should have handled better) , you can not help but admire her acting skills. She was so convincing in even the younger role in the flashback with her expressions, her naughtiness, her innocence in that part. This set the up pace for the entire movie. I enjoyed the movie immensely. Yeah on hindsight the story or shall I say the handling of the story could have been better, the movie seemed a bit unrealistic to me. Especially in the way the ‘choudhary’ sahab first fires up then gets cajoled by madhuri’s expert.. shall I say.. manipulation.. ;-). And then later betrays her before having a change of heart again towards the end. Also the character played by Irfaan Khan - such a talented actor - was so loose. Same goes for Divya Dutta’s character.. ok so I understand that she was always a weak gal but I was not able to understand what earth shattering situation arose that gave her so much strength later.

There are some similar idiotic instances in the movie. But what matters is madhuri was her usual self. She still dances beautifully, smiles even more beautifully and acts as good as she did earlier if not better. Arre she also was humorous enough to laugh at herself.. In that scene, when she plans to get her highly accented ‘dancers’ from NY and stage a show in her town and gets a reply with stress on an equally accented ‘dancers’.:-) The various other characters in the movie were also good, played with finesse by really good actors. Though again some characters were not that well formed. Also madhuri could have been given a stronger role. Somehow it seemed that the role didn’t do her justice.. it didn’t make her do anything stronger or different. That role could have been played by anyone and so easily by madhuri. It was so undemanding that it didn’t require a certain “Madhuri Dixit” in it. She should have got a chance to display her superb acting skills too along with her not-to-mention dancing skills. That’s where it fails in the expectations of so many madhuri fans. The film was too easy for her and unable to meet the expectations of her comeback movie. :-(

Even though it could have been much better, overall the movie was a good experience. Her fans saw madhuri dancing as only she can to the beats of ‘Aaja Nachle’ :-D. We saw madhuri on screen after a long break of 5-6 years. Hope our wait will be shorter the next time around. Go ahead and enjoy ‘Aaja Nachle’ and do temper down your expectations though and also don’t listen to too much of the negative comments in Media (Print/TV). I don’t know what they are using a basis as when rating movies.

PS: Another incentive, Akshya Khanna. He plays a good role in the movie and he is so sweet and charming – you can’t help liking him. With his enigmatic and suave personality, he will charm his way into your system. ;-)

More about me, me and ofcourse me..

2007-11-02T22:06:00.001+05:30

The change in me

2007-10-06T00:35:00.000+05:30

I have always been the kind of person who hates changes. I get so comfortable and used to everything (people, places, my work space, things.. anything), that I resist change up till the last moment I can. Oh you should see how get used to a good watch, or a shoe or a t-shirt.. I keep using it till my friends and ppl around me start commenting that maybe that’s the only piece I have.. :). My friends keep rigging me up and literally force me to move onto something else just for a .. u guessed it.. change.
Even though I am a lazy gal who simply detests changes, once a situation has actually changed, I adapt myself to it pretty fast. It takes me very little time to dig in, find a comfortable place, dig deeper and then mount myself there. :) I sit tight till the next change makes me move out of the comfort zone.

All that being said, you can imagine how difficult it would be for me to try to deliberately change myself. I have always given more than 100% to my work. Worked to the best of my abilities, gone beyond my comfort zone, worried sick about the status of a project or its deliverable, I have even had sleepless nights because of it. My project caters to a major US financial institution. Due to the time zone difference, the entire evening is spent on project meetings, tele-conferences, etc which continue till late at night. These meetings generally result in action items which are worked on during the morning half. So during a normal weekday you can’t even think of having an hour or a minute for yourself. On my way back from office, I used to ponder on one or other project issue. After reaching home and having my dinner, I would again call up my onsite counterpart for updates. It was not the working hours that were hectic; it was the constant strict deadline. Whatever the phase, the work is always demanding and since I am very good in worrying and taking tension, I had my work cut out for me.

This was my normal working day until I reached Onsite. During my Onsite stint, the pressure was more but at least I was back home by 8pm max. Very rarely did I have to stay late in office. Even then the habit of “worrying” was always with me. Then one day, a very good friend of mine - ‘P’ - suggested that I stop thinking so much about my work. I should do my best at work, think about solutions/innovations, etc but when things are not under my control, I should not start worrying either. After all - it’s work, not my life. He hammered the fact in till it entered my brain and was lodged there. Since then I have deliberately trained myself not to worry too much. It’s not going to solve anything anyways. I should do my best and when I can not do anything else, I should not worry either.

Now that I am back in India, looks like this training is bearing fruit. I still have work till late at night, onsite calls after reaching home & I still worry about the work but there is moderation to my "worrying" now. Whenever I start worrying about “what will happen now?”, I think about the situation & try to search for a solution. If I get it, well and good. But if I find that there is nothing that I can do about it at that moment, I just push back my "worry" saying “I anyways can’t do anything now, lets take it up once I reach office tomorrow morning”. As Scarlett so often said in GWTW – ‘After all tomorrow is another day’. And I will tell you, this has made life simpler. Unnecessary worries are a big headache. Thank you Popatlal!! ;-p

The "Loving" yours truly.. ;-)

2007-10-02T00:11:00.000+05:30

From the kind of topics ( aka quizzes) I am blogging on, there are 2 inferences you can surely draw..
1. I am in the mood to hear good things about myself.. as Richard Gere would say - in need of a major "suck up" ;-)
2. I am too busy ( read LAZY) to think and actually write about something (although I have tonnes of things I could write on.. as an fyi, I just landed back in India.. back to Home-Sweet-Home.. )

What's Your Best Quality? Your Result: Loving Your best quality is loving! People like you because of your loving nature. You are a nice person that cares about others. Your loving nature makes you a good friend.
What's Your Best Quality?

Super (wo)man!!

2007-08-26T09:02:00.000+05:30

"You are mild-mannered, good,strong and you love to help others."

Took this small time pass quiz.. Me.. super(wo)man.. ;-). Though I do like batman more.. but than you are what you are.. :D

Wanna know which superhero you are?? Here's the link -> Superhero Quiz

Behind the steering wheel

2007-08-11T10:18:00.000+05:30

I decided to dedicate my next blog to all the varied and ahem, wonderful experiences that I have been having while driving my car.

I have driven in the slow and relatively empty traffic of Greensboro as well as the hustle and bustle of New Jersey.

I have become so infamous for driving fast, my colleagues here don't miss any chance they get to tease me around that.

Drove at 100mph as well as 10mph (believe it or not both were on the same driving trip)

Got ticketed for speeding.. and I was so above the speed limit, I had no excuse but to graciously accept the ticket. It didn't matter that speed limit being so low, everyone was above it.. I just happened to be the topper.

And just when I am getting ready to fly back to India, I got a notice from DMV. My license is gonna be suspended for 6 months and that is for the ticket I got earlier. One speeding ticket and some 180 bucks of fine later, my license was getting suspended. Sooooo not fair!!!! :-( I have requested for a preliminary hearing to try my luck and get the suspension reduced or waived. But with my luck moving in the direction it is now - southwards, not sure if it is going to serve any purpose. But at least, I will be able to drive till it's time to fly back.

Speaking about driving, here's a pic of my car..

My black beauty :D

PS: And now I have to sell it off. :-( I am gonna miss her and the independence that driving it gave. I just looove driving. I used to drive a black TVS scooty (another black beauty) during my engg days and have many happy memories of it. Just like the Elantra above.

Mind speak Vs Mind games

2007-08-08T00:16:00.001+05:30

I will never understand why people don't say what's on their mind. Why all the hiding? Is it fear - fear that the other person will do something you don't expect. Something which can ruin your plans for yourself and the world around you. I can understand holding your tongue in check and not lashing out loud when you are trying to protect someone. Also it's better to keep your mouth shut before judging someone, you might turn out to be the one having delusions. Trying to avoid a conflict is also something I can live with (though there are cases where getting things out in open & clearing the air is much better than keeping mum and sulking about it).

Once I moved out of the house and started my work life in Bangalore, I have faced a dilemma. Should I keep my thoughts to myself, think more before I speak out, especially in my professional life. Is it good to be so frank with my peers? I am not talking about hiding something or even lying but being more 'professional'. One of my friend had once told me, 'you should not be too open, your seniors/peers will know how to manipulate you'. When I first heard it, I thought it to be too extreme. But maybe my friend does have the right idea. Maybe sometimes its better to keep your thoughts to yourself. I am sure that my colleagues have a pretty fair idea of what my thoughts are in a given situation.I agree that there have been situations wherein I have done things that I would have liked to avoid. Got irritated coz of something and though I may not have told anything, everyone near me can make out that I am irritated. Said yes to a work assigned by my PM, when I am already flooded & would have liked to say no. But than this is something you can not avoid being in IT field. Deadlines are always unrealistic and work is always just a tad more. Small lies and sacrifices are part of our life and I take it with a pinch of salt. But they should be as less and as true as they can be.

It has happened to me so many times when I have said/requested something and got a hedging response from the other side. I generally have opinions on almost everything - don't know if it's good or bad but I do have it. Given a situation my friends know what my feelings are. Till now, I have never had any major problems because of it. With friends/family, if there comes a situation where-in I am uncomfortable, I tell it to them. Such situations are rare, since they already know about it without my telling. And I am blessed with friends who are understanding beyond expectations. (Thanks for being such gr8 friends.. Miss you all.. hey I am coming back to India soon.. so cyaaaaaaa :-).. though some friends will be left behind here.. :-(.. )

Off late I have started growing increasingly uncomfortable sensing all the planning and politics and stalling that generally takes place. And when I talk about speaking your mind, I am not talking about truth or lie, it's about having an honest conversation with your peers, subordinates and seniors, especially on issues that involve them. Management will always have some excuse for all the decisions made. I agree that this decisions maybe for the overall growth of the project/account,etc. But does this and your personal growth have to be mutually exclusive. Can't they go hand on hand. Do we really don't get anything without first fighting for it? And this is when my professional life has just started. I am still very near the bottom rung of the corporate ladder and I feel dizzy. Can't even imagine what must be going on at the top. Games people play!! Sigh!!

Picture Blog

2007-07-25T08:26:00.000+05:30

Here's a link to a new blog that I have created.. <Picture Blog>

This is exlcusivley to share some of the pics that I capture though my lens. Hopefully it will be easier for me to publish regular posts here.. ;-)

Here are 10 Things..

2007-07-18T08:39:00.000+05:30

..(in no particular order) which seem to test my patience or to be more precise, prove the absence of it.

My low tolerance with a select few people & they are very few.... I think I give pretty enough room to everyone. But there are a few people I just can't seem to get along with. Guess you can blame it on bad vibes. Oh, I try so hard but my body-language just gives me away!! I am very bad in hiding my feelings. Everyone around me knows what my current mood is.. I make sure that they do.. ;-) Anyways I still have to pretend to 'not dislike' them, even though I know that they know :-(
Those 'well-intentioned' relatives who just can't seem to think of anything else but you & your family's happiness. But in reality are always jealous with your happiness.
People who oppose you just for the heck of it. Especially the stubborn ones who won't even listen to what the other person has to say.
Arranged marriages where the girl is expected to be beautiful, intelligent, smart, educated, a great cook, an obedient daughter-in-law, a perfect home-maker with a good career, an ideal wife & to top it all bring in loads of dowry!!
People who are always bragging about something or the other. I know some who are 'pro' in this.
People who get bored in their own company. They get bored too easily and in the process bore others too. It takes a huge effort to stay away from their boredom, even if you are someone whoz pretty excited yourself most of the times.
People who are always late for meetings, appointments - formal or informal. Hey do whatever you want with your own time but please do respect others.
COLD!! And not the weather 'cold' but the sickness 'cold'. Oh it has been a constant companion of mine as long as I can remember.
Movies which try to justify extra martial affairs. Sorry guys.. i can't understand that.. like in 'The English Patient', the love between the lead pair may have been great but i couldn't understand the heroine cheating on her husband.. why was she not happy?? It wasn't as if he didn't love her. How can one love be great and another trivial?
My wonderfully "choosy'n'forgetful" memory - some things I can't forget and some things I just can't seem to remember. And there's no pattern in there. Just random.

You know, thinking about these 10 things was so difficult.. it nearly tested my patience.. I was about to leave it in between.. but then I guess I am patient enough.. ;-)

Trip to NY/ Niagara - First things first

2007-06-05T22:06:00.001+05:30

I went on a trip to New York and Niagara falls on this memorial day weekend (May25-May28). A very eventful and fun trip with loads of 'first-time' things happening to me. As usual I noted then down :-) Whenever I experience something for the first time, I remember an ad I saw when I was still in school. At that time, we used to get "The Telegraph" newspaper at our home. If I remember correctly, the ad I am referring to was for 'Emirates Airlines'. The tag line for the ad was 'When was the last time you did something for the first time? Keep discovering.' Profound, ain't it? ;-D

A few details about my trip - I started from my place at around 7 in the evening, reached NY by 9.30. (FYI - the night-view of NY skyline when the plane's landing is brilliant, saw a big baseball stadium too - it was glowing - prashant mentioned it must be the 'Mets'). Anjali & Prashant had come to pick me up from the airport, so we went straight to their place. They live in a beautiful apartment in an equally beautiful area, Newport. It has spectacular river-side view. Here's a picture I took from their apartment complex.

(Manhattan skyline reflected on Hudson river)

Harish arrived from Phoenix later that night. And 4 of us started our trip. A trip which had a few first-time-things (some of these were also in my "To-do" list)

1. Visited Niagara falls - It's just beautiful. Specially at night - with fireworks, coloured beams of light illuminating the falls and the beautiful Canadian skyline in the backdrop.

2. Times square, NY - I had such a nice time in times square. We were there from about 8.30pm to 2.30am. The place was sparkling owing to the big, huge and bright billboards at display there. Went to Hershey's, Toys'R'Us, saw the famous NASDAQ bill board, Broadway (legally blonde was playing there, couldn't even try to see, no time.. ),.. got a sketch done (had to sit still for about 30 min.. I can tell u its VERY difficult and even after trying I was not still for a moment - the poor guy who had to sketch me.. :D ). Even we started back for home, we still had loads of energy left to continue. The fact that we had to start for Niagara early in the morning next day was the only constraint.

3. Visited statue of liberty - couldn't go near the top - it's not allowed now a days.

4. Started a new collection - I went to the gift shops on all the places that I went, statue of liberty, empire state building & Niagara falls. Have started collecting beautiful souvenir glasses. Something similar to shot glasses.

5. Empire State Building - The view of NY from the observation deck at 86th floor is amazing. One of my first thoughts on seeing ESB was King Kong. :D. The lift in the ESB is awesome - we ascended/descended "80 floors" in just under a minute.

6. Drove at 100mph - Yes finally I touched 100 mph. We drove from NY to Niagara in an SUV (Nissan-Pathfinder). I LOOOOVE driving. :-)

7. Got a speeding ticket - The fact that I was driving at such a speed and in a big vehicle, no one - with the exception of me - was surprised that I got ticket :-(

8. Saw traffic Jam - Hey b'lore is not the only place having huge traffic jams. While coming back from Niagara to NY, we were literally crawling on the interstate. For about an hour or so, we saw vehicles jam packed on the road as far as we could see. Another thing, traffic in NY is BAD.

9. Eat in a diner - while coming back from Niagara, we had lunch in a diner. Very limited vegetarian choices but the preparations were good.

10. Saw the famous Yellow NY taxis - There are loads of taxis in NY. They looked very cute - especially when seen from the observation deck at ESB. One of the famous modes of transportation here apart from the buses and railway/subway.

11. Punjabi Dhabas in Niagara - I was quite surprised to fund so many punjabi dhabas in Niagara. No surprise considering the fact that about 80-85% toursits seemed to be indians. :-)

(A pic taken from the deck near the top of Niagara - American falls on the left and Horse-shoe falls on the right)

Dreams

2007-05-20T00:57:00.000+05:30

“But I, being poor, have only my dreams.

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.”

- Lines from a beautiful poem by W. B. Yeats

I'll be seeing you

2007-05-15T21:11:00.000+05:30

Here’s the lyrics of a song I heard recently. It is from a lovely, romantic movie, The Notebook. It has a very simple and universal “rich girl meets poor boy” story. A common theme has been captured well by the director, with the help of good leading pair, Rachel McAdams & Ryan Gosling. Of course when you have as charming an actor as Ryan Gosling in the lead, things get even more beautiful. I won’t say that he is a great actor but he is good. I have see a couple of his other movies too & liked him in all – he draws you to himself plus when in a negative role, he has this dark aura around him. He is in ‘The List’ now and by that I mean my list of fav ppl ;-) The movie also has excellent cinematography with beautiful, picturesque locations. I especially liked the view which accompanies the opening credits of the movie and the sequence where Noah(Ryan) takes Allie(Rachel) for a boat-ride around a lake which is filled with geese.

Ok coming back to the song, I especially liked the lyrics, the music, and Billie Holiday’s voice - it's a bit different ;) you may not like it at first go. The song fit in perfectly with the situation in which it was being played, giving it a kind of nostalgic/haunting feel. Here goes the lyrics..

I'll be seeing you

In all the old familiar places

That this heart of mine embraces

All day through.

In that small cafe;

The park across the way;

The children's carousel;

The chestnut trees;

The wishin' well.

I'll be seeing you

In every lovely summer's day;

In every thing that's light and gay.

I'll always think of you that way.

I'll find you

In the morning sun

And when the night is new.

I'll be looking at the moon,

But I'll be seeing you.

I'll be seeing you

In every lovely summer's day;

In every thing that's light and gay.

I'll always think of you that way.

I'll find you

In the morning sun

And when the night is new.

I'll be looking at the moon,

But I'll be seeing you.

Analyze this ;-)

2007-05-10T00:55:00.000+05:30

I was watching 'Analyze This' yesterday… another re-run :) .. one helluva funny movie.. I was laughing like anything most of the time while watching it.. Billy Crystal & Robert de Niro.. an awesome combo... :D .. as deadly as Danny DeVito & Billy Crystal in 'Threw momma from the train'. Please see it in case u already haven't.. u'll enjoy every bit of it.

Coming back to ‘Analyze This’, there are loads of funny scenes in here.. especially the ones where Billy Crystal , a psychiatrist, is conducting sessions for his patients. While watching those scenes, I realized thank god I was not a psychiatrist.. Most of the cases were so hillarious, I would have laughed out on the face of the patients.. :).. And I am serious about that.. I have a penchant for laughing at the most inappropriate times. During tonnes & tonnes of lectures in , my friends would say something funny and I would burst out laughing, while they would be very good in controlling their laughter.. During my engineering days, I and my friend Amrita..(Amu for me ;-) .. and here's a link to her blog), used to sit together during our classes and laugh together.. she would deliver one of her deadly one liners and keep mum. And I would have a very difficult time controlling my laughter.. This really worried me during my 3rd year of Engg as our HOD was about to take one of our subjects.. he being a terror in our dept, I was pretty skeptical of how I would fair in his presence. Thankfully I was never caught by him.. though I did laugh out loud a few times.. ;)

Hmm.. so as u can see, imagining myself at Billy Crystal's position was fun.. It has happened to me once too while I was trying to psycho-analyze a situation.... It was during the time I came to b’lore after completing my engg degree. I had joined as a SE in one of the big software companies. During the training period, I was staying at a PG in Koramangala with some of my friends. We used to go to office together, take the 5.30 bus back home and would have talk-sessions till late at night.. (the experience I had at the PG can fill a few more blogs). During one of our such, there was this girl, who came to us (us being me, chandra and preeti).. then very seriously she told 'Let me give u a case study, analyze it and tell me your opinion about it' (Fyi.. she was working part time and preparing for further studies and we assumed the case study was for that.. ) .. And then she started telling us abt the case..

'Let's assume a hypothetical situation.. there's a guy and a girl.. the girl really likes the guy.. he is her best friend.. she has counted on him and trusted him forever.. and the guy likes her too.. Let's assume they are working together.. and hence see each other everyday.. then all of sudden the guy gets very busy.. u see.. he is preparing for his MBA while working.. the girl realizes that & understands the situation.. she knows that his carrier / growth are very imp.. and she is supportive.. even lends him her book to help.. So now they see each other less often.. mind you she hasn’t told him that she likes him and neither has he..
Ok. then one day after a long time they meet again at their work place.. the guy seems preoccupied.. tells her he will return her books soon as he has read them & doesn’t need it any more.. Few more days pass.. since the girl also is preparing for MBA and needed the book.. she tried contacting him a few times but was unable to due to some reasons.. reasons are not imp.. ok.. now after another long passage of time.. they meet up and the guy returns the books.. he is grateful to her for her help.. and after some time says bye and goes.. '

Now she told all this to us and then stopped. We 3 are staying at her like.. “ok.. carry on..” Then she asks.. 'I just have one question.. why did not the guy just ask.. "How was your day, XYZ?" '

Ok.. now she is waiting for our expert comments.. Let you tell me our positions.. I was sitting on a bed.. she was sitting opposite to me on the same bed.. preeti and chandra were sitting on the adjacent one. After finishing this and asking her question, she stops and is looking intently at me for an answer.. And guess what did I do.. I burst out laughing on her face.. Yes that's what I did.. The most funny part being.. in the question, "How was your day, XYZ?".... 'XYZ' was her name. :-D

Oh my god.. the look on her face seeing me laugh was too much.. it made me laugh even more.. I was expecting preeti and chandra to laugh too.. I looked at them and those poor souls were just keeping quiet.. trying hard to control their laughter.. It was quiet some time before I stopped.. preeti and chandra (God bless them!!) did some analysis, gave some answers to soothe her and finally she went to her room.. The moment she went upstairs to her room, we had another bout of laughter.. this time 3 of us together.. Oh I know it was bad.. laughing at someone's prob.. but the way she told it.. it was too funny.. and also it had sounded so artificial when she was telling about it.

Whatever the case be.. that was yet another time I wished I had control on my laugh riots.. Asking someone 'How was you day, XYZ?'.. replacing it with their names was one of our favorite jokes during that time.. and it still is :-D

Moral of the story: Doing what Billy crystal did in 'Analyze this' is a difficult job. He did great!! ;-)

Travel Bug

2007-05-03T00:08:00.000+05:30

That’s what has always been roaming around me, making buzzing noises and putting a sting whenever it gets a chance. If there is something I enjoy more than reading & good food, it’s traveling. I have always been fond of it, at least as long as I can remember. All thanks to my dad.

My dad just loves traveling. Being a businessman, with the sole responsibility of the business and always being a tad too busy, he is not one who has had the luxury to enjoy it the way he would have wanted. Even with all the various strings attached, he has traveled a lot. Always taking out time during our summer/winter vacations and exploring new places. And it was not just limited to tourist attractions back home (though we have covered many places like Agra, J&K, Delhi, Chandigarh, Calcutta, nearly the whole of Orissa & Southern India, etc. I could not accompany my family to Rajasthan though.. Engg exams.. :-(.. ). Even the small places in and around our town has all been explored by us. The small creeks near by, a garden here, a farmhouse there. We just used to pack up and get into the car. The picnics we had were so much fun- a new place every time. With my father’s idea, we once had a picnic on boat. (A river passes through our town).Tied a couple of boats together, hired some people to row it, moved downstream and then back. That is one of the best picnics I have been to.

My father’s love for traveling has rubbed on me. (Even the reading part comes from him, though he was not into novels, just magazines, newspapers, articles and some philo books once in a while). And I, being my father’s daughter, try to satiate the bug as much and as often as I can.

Started working on this, as soon as I got a job and landed in Bangalore. Saw any near by places I could get a chance to. Went to Mangalore, Mysore, Kerala-Munnar, Cochin, Allepy, Pondicherry (I have been here about 5 times or so, thanks to my friend Rohini – its her hometown, a quaint, little & very cute French town.. first time was with my family). I could have covered many more places (Ooty & Shravanbelagola are few places I really wanted to see) but lot of times I had to back out of a plan due to absence of female company :-( . I have some ghummakad friends who were always ready with a packed bag. But my girl frineds, at most times, had some or other ties they could not break out of, even though they also like traveling.

So now here I am in a new & very different country with the possibilities to see some more new places. And I have dived in head on. Have seen some places already, Phoenix, Washington, Cary, Raleigh. Made travel arrangements for a few more – New York, Niagara Falls, Florida, Orlando. Before I head back home, I want to see San Francisco, California too. Let’s see if I can. Quoting Paulo Coelho: - “And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”- The Alchemist (Quite a book, I suggest reading it if you get a chance). And so I do believe he is right, let me add here my wish to see Paris & Rome too. Just in case universe needs extra time. ;-). After all there are miles to go before I sleep..

Finally a century!!

2007-04-29T03:33:00.000+05:30

Last week, I went bowling with my colleagues. The client company which I work for, had organized a bowling night, termed Bowl-A-Thon ;) - volunteer teams of 4-5 ppl were formed. Each team had to collect donations, buy tickets for bowling & have fun while helping the community. The proceeds went to a local charity group in here.

Having bowled only a couple of times, I was very skeptical of how I would fare. I remember the first time I went bowling. It was in Bangalore and we had gone to a bowling place, Megabowl, for a project party. I had a fun time there. My first attempt resulted in a strike(first throw knocking down all 10 pins) :-) U can guess how happy that made me. Beginner's luck!! And that was the only luck I had that day. Every other bowl hit everything but the pins. Threw a lot of gutter balls (situation when the ball falls out of the bowling lane, instead of going straight and knocking down the pins). The bottom line - I sucked in the game but nevertheless I had loads of fun bowling.

So with the kind of low score I had earlier, my expectations were pretty realistic. Motto being - One at a time. The game started well, in the first round- the 1st ball hit nothing and the 2nd hit all 10. I was pretty consistent after that. Managed a strike in the 8th round too. So in the end it turned out better than my expectations with a score of 101 :) I crossed a century!! And here's what the score card looked like at the end.... the 2nd one from the top.. tht's me.. I was 2nd in my group too..

I know it's not much of a score but considering my exposure to the game and a whole lot of other things (some facts, some excuses ), I was pretty happy & proud. :D With a suggestion from my colleague, shashank, (the top scorer in the chart above), I thought of blogging it. Thanks Shashank.. another gr8 idea.. ;)

Here's more about me: --

2007-04-15T04:26:00.000+05:30

-- my visual DNA. And I got this one from Chitra. ;)

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

The "To-Do-Before My Next B'de" list

2007-04-14T07:38:00.000+05:30

My B'day is fast approaching and I thought let me just pen down a few things I would like to do in the coming year.. (I wanted to write about things to do before 30 but then I thought of that film and kind of dropped it. Another factor being 30 is still far.. I have got loads to do before that.. ;). So here goes the list of my things-to-do-before-my-next-b'de:--

See Niagara falls - from both sides. And by that I mean both US and Canada. - Hoping to cover atleast the US side of it in May.
Shopping at NY / Time square - I have planned to go to NY next month so hopefully this will be done.
Go back to India before Diwali - would hate to miss diwali celebration. Another reason is in college I took a bet with my best friend. During one diwali back then, I was going home leaving our college events when all my friends were asking me to stay. But diwali means home. And my friend quipped "A time will come when, forget home, you will not even be in india during diwali". I was quick to say 'NO WAY'. And hence the bet. Since "a time" is very vague, we decided on a time limit of 10 years, so I better not be out of india during diwali for atleast 7 more years.. ;)
Create a small but proud DVD collection of my all time favourite movies
Have a plantain leaf meal - oh.. i miss the lovely 'North Karnataka' meal they serve on banana leaf at Kamat Yatri Niwas, Bangalore. I am gonna have it agian before my next b'de for sure.
Visit Paris, have a lovely meal at one of the famous sidewalk cafes' there and roam around the streets of paris at night - this is actually in my 'things to do before i die' wish list so even if i can't do it this year, anytime before i die is fine with me.. :D. For now my plan is : When I head back for India, I will take a connecting flight through Paris and take a 2-day break there.
Go for a long drive in a RED Mustang Convertible with the top down and loud music playing and nothing beats it if the drive is along a beach/sea. :)
Go for Sky-diving - I think I am afraid of heights though I am not sure about it. I did parasailing once so guess trying this won't kill me. Hopefully.
Drive at 100mph - I have touched 80-85 so I guess 100 shouldn't be that hard.
Pack a bag and just leave. No plans, no destinations.. just pure whim!! :)
Learn atleast one of the two: a. Swimming b. Waltz/Dancing. And in case i am able to learn swimming, then go swimming at night.. that too while its raining heavily!! ;)
Go on a cruise - Arre I am so near florida, I better take a cruise or something.
Climb to the top of statue of liberty - I missed going to the top of washington memorial. I was late and the last trip for the day was over :(. Lets hope this one goes right.
Wear an evening gown ( a classic designer one) - trial in a dress shop would also be counted.
Eat at a diner or go to a drive-in theatre - have seen so many of them in movies. Now that I am here, I would like to experience it some day.
Learn Tennis - I bought a tennis racket some 2 months back and I have used it only 2 times.. :( Lazy me.
Buy a superman T shirt(a perfect replica) and have the guts to wear it to office - Wearing it to office back in india would be more fun!! Here it seems a possibility ;)
Save something before I go back to India. If I can save $5000, that would be great.
Go to a night club - Believe it or not after being in b'lore for more than 2 years and in US since 5 months now, I haven't ever been to a club or disc or pub.
Buy a slick and really cool mp3 cum video player with 80GB memory or so - My sister would love it. I would too.. ;)
Be a regular at Gym and loose the extra pounds I have put on since coming to US. Alternatively don't add any more pounds.
And in the end something for my personality developement - Learn to be patient and especially towards people I can't tolerate. I think the way I behave, I am sure the person knows that I can't tolerate him/her.

Most of things above are pretty simple and achievable. So wish me luck and let me just dive-in. Ciao!

Disappointed....

2007-03-25T08:40:00.000+05:30

- that India is all but out of the world cup.

- that tendulkar, - a player who has entertained & captured our imagination like no one else , a player who made us dream big- , was out for a duck in maybe his last world cup inning.

- that tendulkar, irrespective of all his records and achievements, will not have a world cup in his kitty.

- that a country, where cricket is almost another religion, where people fought sleep and tiredness to catch our team in action at the world cup, will go to bed with disappointment.

- that even after putting so much focus on cricket( at the cost that we do not have any other sport to fall back on), our team could not give us a reason to be proud of.

- that even after our dismal performance off late, I still hoped against hope that we had a chance.

Snow and Ice

2007-01-22T04:53:00.000+05:30

It snowed here on thursday and the world looked even more beautiful, enveloped as it was in pristine white snow..

In case you need reasons to be a kid, it was "A puurrrfect day" to bring out the kid in you.. I just had loads of fun playing in the snow..
For my friends back in India, I played for your share too.. ;-)

It snowed in the morning putting a white blanket on everything.. doesn't it look like a bush of white flowers??

By the time it was noon snow started turning into ice, yet another beautiful form..

Beauty does leave you speechless.. sighhhh.. :)

One month & running....

2006-12-13T09:17:00.000+05:30

Just completed a month here in US. As of now it has been treating me well.. lets hope it remains the same way. :) I had least expectations from this place and hence had to suffer no disappointments. I do not have any friends here and since its an unknown town in an unfamiliar country, I did not expect to make any. Though my colleagues here are very helpful & friendly, making me feel as much at home as possible. Feedback from all the people who had been to this town before was pretty consistent.. small town.. no friends.. no entertainment.. boring life.. Being a person who doesn't allow herself to get bored, I was sure I would find ways to keep myself ticking. And till now I have had no time to feel bored.. Touchwood!!

The first thing I did here, was rent an apartment.. :) yes.. I have an apartment.. a nice cozy 1bedroom flat.. its on the 1st floor( 2nd floor by US standards ).. has a balcony too.. The next thing I did after getting an apartment was shopping, shopping, shopping & some moooooooooore shopping. Got a TV.. (need to keep myself occupied.. m staying alone with no friends yaar.. ), DVD player, Laptop and a Digicam(to share pics with my friends). Got all of these things during the Thanksgiving Sale. Arre its such a big event here. The day after Thanksgiving is known as "Black Friday" and you have amazing discounts in all shops. Shops open late at night.. somewhere around 2am-4am and there are big queues of people trying to get their hands on good deals. People here start planning for this day well in advance. Papers on thanksgiving day carry a lot of ads about all the good deals available. I also went to Circuit City around 4 o clock in the morning. Got my laptop on a discount of $350 on the original market price.. and that too with lot of free accessories like printer/scanner, wireless router, security software,etc. Had one helluva experience.. :) After this I got myself subscribed to TimeWarner cable service. So I have cable, phone & internet and I'm all set.

Can't tell you what fun shopping is. I am not a shopoholic except when it comes to clothes, they are never enough.. ;) I am an impuslive shopper who values a thing by the amount I am ready to pay for it.. So it may happen that I won't take a good bargain just because I don't think its worth it & I may well end up getting an otherwise expensive thing just coz that's worth that much for me.. I know thats stupid and foolish.. but can't help it.. an incorrigible trait!! Here I am slowly and steadily getting used to WalMart, HarrisTeeter, Sears, Macy's and the likes.. Grocery & food items are too costly compared to India and I do make comparisons often.. guess will stop that after sometime.. You get varieties of things though.. have seen atleast 5 kinds of potatoes.. normal(the one we get in india), yellow colored, purple, fibrous & sweet.

On weekdays I generally don't get much time. Start for office around 8.30-9 and come back by 6-6.30. Rest for some time, watch TV, then I start working on my dinner. After dinner, I call up my parents. Log onto net, chat with friends, check my e-mails. Then I read something and go to sleep anytime between 12.30-1.30. This is my normal "routine" on weekdays. Weekends I sleep till 12 or later.. :D.. Sleeping is one of my favourite hobbies.. Afternoon go out with my colleagues for shopping, buy groceries for the week, wash my clothes, try to clean the apartment and do similar small things. Go out for lunch/dinner. Last weekend, we went out for lunch in a Mexican restaurant, then went to a book shop "Barns&Noble" and bought some books. At night, went for a movie "Apocalypto". An overall fun day!

Lastly, before signing-off, here are a few things which I am getting used to:

1. Doughnuts: I can finish half a dozen doughnuts in 2 days.. and then I go and get more. And you must have guessed.. I am gaining weight.. :( .. but what the heck!!

2. Chips: Anytime u come to my place, u'll find atleast 1 big bag of lays chips. Actually at times u can get 1 bag each of 2-3 different flavours. The tagline for Lays couldn't have been more apt, "No one can eat just one".

3. Cold weather: Its quite cold here and believe it or not, I haven't sneezed even once yet.. that's quite a remarkable feat.. :) my friends can vouch!!

4. WalMart: For basic shopping. It's open 24x7.

5. TV Ads: The Ads shown on TV here are so kiddish & stupid. Majority of ads are either for medicines or legal counsels. And its not at like the ads back in India, which are so witty and humorous. Here they explain things like u would to a 4 yr old.

6. Clean air/environment. And I mean CLEAN!!

7. Sound of horn: Or you can say the absence of it. I have been here a month and I haven't heard it yet. Bizzare, right?

8. Listening to statements like "Hi! How are you doing?", "Have a good day" and that too from strangers. Don't know why but everyone greets everyone here.

9. Christmas decoration: Houses here are really beautiful. Small and cute. And most of them are decorated for Christmas. The holiday season begins as early as Thanksgiving. :)

Have a great day!! and advance wishes of a Merry Christmas!!

First Flight

2006-11-22T00:25:00.000+05:30

It’s been sometime since I last wrote. I have been keeping a bit busy lately. Been busy having new experiences.. experiences which I would love to share. Not sure where I should begin from.. :) But let’s just start from the start.. It all started when I was about to head home for Diwali holidays, I was informed that I would be needed to pack my bags and report onsite my mid of November. Onsite being US. (Fyi.. Our project caters to a leading American financial institution).

This being my first trip out of my country.. try imagine the excitement mixed with apprehension, euphoria with a tinge of fear, etc etc etc.. I was experiencing. Last couple of days in Bangalore was just flew by.. spent on shopping, eating, treats to friends, chatting with them (with night-outs on the last weekend) , more eating and then more shopping.. And then all too soon the D-day arrived. This was not just my first international flight; it was also my first flight ever. It would be quite impossible for me to express the mixed feelings I was having. Away from family & friends. Off to an unknown land. So let me just skip the part.

Flight was wonderful. B’lore -> Frankfurt -> Chicago -> Greensboro (my destination). Family of 2 of my colleagues were also travelling with me. Had a window seat in the Frankfurt->Chicago flight. :) :) The view, simply put, was breathtaking. Especially during take-off. Frankfurt is surrounded by some very beautiful hills and the scenic colourful display was wonderful. We crossed the Atlantic Ocean at an altitude of 38,000 feet. :D. (Being a first time traveler, I was noticing everything.. from the altitude, the trajectory, the outside temperature and pressure,.. At one time the outside temp was -59 degree centigrades.. ). The clouds made beautiful formations with sun rays crossing through it. The plane went right into three cloud covers while preparing to land in Chicago. You feel like you are in a dream. It looks just like the dream sequence they show in movies. Saw a couple of movies in-flight. The food served in the flight was quite good, contrary to my expectations. Infact, the b’lore-f’furt flight had Indian food, complete with Paneer & Raita. I was advised to drink lot of juice and hence followed it diligently. (Fyi... the coffee was BAD.. especially after the wonderful coffee you get in Krishna Cafe' or the various ‘Sagar’ restaurants).

Frankfurt was crowded and it was raining in Chicago making it freezing cold. Thus passed the journey, complete with lot of security checks and long queues but on the whole uneventful. All seemed to change as soon as we landed at our destination. Just when we were picking up our hand luggage and preparing to un-board, the flight attendants asked us to go back & take our seats. After around 45 minutes on the plane, we were asked to go into a conference room on the airport. It seems some bomb threat was received and we were about to be questioned… oops I meant welcomed by.. guess what.. FBI.. quite a warm welcome right? ;-). So after waiting for another hour in the conference room, feds arrived and we were told that people sitting in a particular area need to wait and others can go. And believe it or not I was one of the few who had to wait.. Just my luck!! :(.. hey on hindsight, this could be the effect of a movie of the same name which I saw in-flight.. :D. After that each one of us was taken aside, asked to write down our name,address,etc, questioned about wheather we saw anyone do anything suspicious, told we would be called again if needed, told sorry for delay & thank you for co-operation and then we were free to go. Phew!!

My colleagues, who had come to receive me, had to wait for around 2.30 hours. And finally I did manage to reach the US of A. Its been 2 weeks now, have some more experinces to add but guess that would have to wait. :) Cya.

End of an era

2006-09-14T18:11:00.000+05:30

Last week pulled down the curtains on an era. With Sampras already have retired in 2002(official announcement in 2003), the retirement of Andre Agassi last week left a void in the tennis circuit which would be pretty hard to fill up. This would be the case at least for me. It was Pete & Andre who attracted me to Tennis. They, along with Monica Seles & Steffi Graf, were the ones who made watching tennis so much more interesting. The rivalry which the above 2 groups of players shared resulted in many a visual treats.

Pete and Andre are two of the greatest tennis champions of all time and their play has served as a timeless entertainment for tennis fans worldwide. There will always be a debate between their fans as to who is the better of the two. Their style of play is as different as chalk from cheese. Sampras is a great server of the ball (just love his aces.. :)..) & Agassi, a great returner. Sampras is a better player on grass courts and Agassi would be dominant on clay courts. Sampras’s style is as plain & unpretentious as Agassi’s is flamboyant. Even with so many differences between them both dominated the tennis circuit during the same era. The rivalry which they shared helped bring out the best in them. Both acknowledge that they have used each other as a yardstick for upping their respective games. They also share a great deal of mutual respect for each other. Hence it was just appropriate that the last grand slam match that Pete played (& won, US open 2002) was against his biggest rival, Agassi. A fitting end to a glorious carrier. It’s sad that Agassi could not end his career with a win. Never the less he will always be a proud member of the grand slam Hall of Fame.

It was not just the game but also the attitude which they possess, which made them so special. Not just great tennis players, they are also great sportsperson. New players have risen to fill up the void. Federer is already on a fast track, closely followed by Roddick, Hewitt, Nadal & the likes. But simply put Pete & Andre are just irreplaceable.

Indian Coffee House

2006-08-25T14:35:00.000+05:30

Stumbled across a portion of history while taking a walk down MG Road. It was around 10 in the morning and I, along with a few friends, was looking out for a place to have a coffee & grab a few bites on our way to see the 11 o clock show at REX theatre.

Since I don’t relish eating breads & stuffs falling into this category, I avoid the multinational coffee chains like CCD (a.k.a Café Coffee Day), barista, etc. Another reason being the absence of sugar in the coffee served there. You need to help yourself when it comes to sugar. :( . So while looking out for a place to take our breakfast, we came across the Indian Coffee House. It’s situated at maybe the most prominent location on MG Road, but is as likely to get missed. We had taken that road for n number of times & we had missed it. But the n+1th time turned out to be different.

The moment we entered the restaurant, the first thing which I felt was a feeling of stepping out of the present and into the past. It felt like a place which had just sprung out of the books by R.K.Narayan.

A black & white photo of Gandhi adorns one of the walls. There are also quite a few framed advertisements/ pictures.. old..faded.. (could not take a good look at them though). The waiters are dressed in off-white uniforms (must have been white once) with the classic Indian turban on their head. The chairs & tables are pretty old fashioned. No flashy frames, no modern-arts, no ethnic/modern furnitures… nothing that would urge a dekko. The interior of the place takes a backseat. So that you give your full attention to the coffee and your companion(s).

It’s the ideal place for khatti (oriya slang for “a little chit-chat” ;) ). Just the place to spend a lazy Sunday with your friends. And I mean “friends”.
Want to experience the past? Just visit Indian Coffee House.

PS: People finicky about cleanliness stay away! That’s not one of its USP. (USP: Apart from the ambience, it’s the Coffee, with “sugar”, and Dosa-chutney, kind of “home-made”)

PPS: Another uniqueness: No Sambhar ;)

Main Lafzon Mein Kuch Bhi Izhar Nahi Karta.....

2006-07-20T15:00:00.000+05:30

Here are a few lines I read recently..

Main Lafzon Mein Kuch Bhi Izhar Nahi Karta
Iska Matlab Ye Nahi Ki Main unse Pyar Nahi Karta
Chahta Ho on Main use Aaj Bhi Par
uski Soch Mein Apna Waqt Bekar Nahi Karta
Tamasha Naa Ban Jaaye Kahi Mohabbat Meri
Isi Liye Apne Dard Ko Mamoodaar Nahi Karta
Jo Kuch Mila Hai Usi Mein Khush Hoon Main
Uske Liye Khuda Se Taqraar Nahi Karta
Par Kuch Tau Baat Hai uski Fitrat Mein
Warna Main use Chahne Ki Khata Baar Baar Nahi Karta

Got it as a forward. Don’t know why but it seems to have tugged in my heart. It’s not as if it is the greatest piece of poetry I have read. Still it has kind of stayed with since the time I first read it, which was about a week back. I am not the sort of person who reads poetry, ghazals, & the likes. I love reading though. I read things and if I like them, well & good. Else just ignore maadi ;-).

Coming back to the original topic.. I did some brain storming on why these lines keep popping up in my head. Had a long discussion with my roomies & friends on this.. everyone had there take on it. Since I’ve never been in love (not the Romeo - Juliet kind anyways..), couldn’t blame it on that Ruled out in the first go itself.. :-).. Sighhhh..… :-(. Here are a few of the reasons which we could think of:

1. Great lines! – Yeah it is. At least I believe so. Since that’s not entirely the case it was ruled out.

2. Most romantic one- Nope. Not even that. PB Shelley’s poems would do more justice here.

3. Essence of the poem – True. The feelings conveyed in the lines are really quite touching. Maybe coz there’s that dash of sorrow into it. And as they say nothing touches people more than tragedy.

4. Even after making the earlier disclaimer, per my friend Ashwani, that’s coz I am in love… ;-) But since I know I am not and thank god I am not, this also gets ruled out.

5. The one which hit the closest was the observation made by my friend Rachna. She told it reminds of my major crush.. Mr.B… sigh.. can’t even write his name without letting out a sigh.. FYI, he is my ex-colleague & that’s all. There begins & ends my story. So I am not sure whether it reminded me of him from the beginning but yes after her observation it does remind me of him. :-)
It’s true. You like a poem more when you are able to associate yourself with it in some way. Even if it is only through a foolish crush. You look back at those moments and have a good laugh. Brings a smile into your face. You don’t regret it but as they say an “If…" is always there.. ;-) And it’s our tendency to remember only the good times.

6. Can you think of anything else?

Whatever the reason, I have really enjoyed the above poetry (or ghazal or whatever it is called.. as u can see my knowledge on these things is negative). Hopefully u’ll like it too. Have fun!!

Lord of the Rings: Been there and back again

2006-06-08T20:51:00.000+05:30

Finally I have been able to read the cult classic LOTR (acronym for Lord of the rings). Having already seen the movie (all the 3 installments: the fellowship of the ring, the two towers and the return of the king) a couple of times and getting hooked by it, I had been craving to read it too. And let me tell you it met all of my expectations.

LOTR is a work of fiction created by JRR Tolkien. It traces the life of a hobbit, Frodo, as he comes into possession of the One ring (the Ring of Power, which was forged by Sauron, the Dark Lord) and his struggle to destroy it. He is aided by 8 companions in his journey: - Aragorn-a man, Gandalf-the grey, Boromir-a man, Legolas-an elf, Gimli-a dwarf and 3 hobbits-Sam, Merry and Pippin. There are many more interesting and important characters in the book like Gollum, Faramir, Arwen, Eowyn, Elrond, Galadriel, etc. You gotta read the book or watch the movie to learn more.

Whenever I am reading a book, I tend to visualize each of the characters present in the book. I read about the character’s physical and psychological description and place someone (mostly an actor) in his/her place and imagine them going forward. This is one thing I really like ( / dislike :)) while reading a book.. u need to rely so much on your imagination.... But for LOTR I didn’t have to go through this activity.. having already seen the movie (and loving it), images of all the characters were already before my eyes. I just had to place them in all the scenes. After seeing the movie I had become a great fan of Viggo Mortensen a.k.a Aragorn (have watched quite a few of his movies since then.. got a tiny-winy crush on him.. what a handsome guy.. :) with a multi-faceted personality) and after reading the book I have another favorite: Faramir (brother of Boromir, enacted on screen by David Wenham). I had also loved the character of Sam Gamgee (played by Sean Astin) in the movie and after reading the book, this love was just re-affirmed. If not for him Frodo would have been lost for ever.. can’t help but admire his courage, optimism and loyalty, above everything else. Just goes to show that “Things are never quite as scary when you've got a friend.”

The language of the book is just Wonderful. The English is awesome. There are many small & big poems in between and though it may seem boring, they kind of just fit-in perfectly. Here’s one of my fav quote, in reference to Aragorn:

"All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king. "

Here’s another classic:
“Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.”
There are some real good and thought-invoking phrases in the book. Lines which would make you ponder & debate on the issue. Its in a beautiful poetic language.. got that old world charm about it.

The book exceeded some of my expectations.. After watching the movie, I was quite sad for Eowyn (lady of Rohan) since she seemed to have lost out to Arwen while vying for Aragorn’s love. (Since I preferred Miranda Otto to Liz Tyler.. I cudn’t fathom this ;-) ).. But the book healed this sadness a.k.a wound (For more information read the chapters around “House of healing”).

There are quite a few interesting incidents which have not been included in the movie version…. Especially some involving Faramir… have heard its present in the extended version DVD of the movie.. I am currently looking out for it.. :) Either as a movie or a book, LOTR is definitely worth collecting.

Chivalry - Slow Death?

2006-04-28T10:57:00.000+05:30

An incident on the bus today made me think of my take on the issue.
It was 1pm on a Wednesday. And I was tuned into RadioMirchi (93.3FM which kicked off its operations in Bangalore a few days back, giving competition to RadioCity & a choice to bangalorians) & reading a book( have just started it.. "Stepping Out" by Mrinal Pande.. it talks about life of rural Indian women) while commuting to office through the office bus. After picking up fellow colleagues from a lot of places, the bus reached BTM layout at around 1-1.10. There stood a hoard of people waiting to get into the bus and all the seats got filled up in no time. Around 15 or so persons had to stand & commute. In those 15 people, there were a couple of gals. Watching them standing on the bus, I couldn’t help yearning for the good old times when guys used to take it as their holy duty to be courteous to women, and offering them their seats on a bus was the least they could do.

I know it’s the era of the so called emancipated women. We are screaming our lungs out to show that we can compete with guys anywhere and everywhere. We can’t just lecture about the need for equal opportunities and then expect guys to offer us seats on an over crowded bus. Shouldn’t we also stand & commute and realize what guys go through? If women are asking for equality that is what they shall get. Agreed that all the above counter-arguments put forward by guys are correct. But then there are some things which are above being just right or wrong. Don’t you think so too? Being polite and a bit chivalrous wouldn’t do anyone any harm. And I am not saying that men should be the only one doing this. It’s for everyone. Even for women. Offering your seat to a woman, an elderly person, a sick person, helping someone who looks as if he/she is in need even if they are not asking for the same. These are some things that can be followed by anyone & should be followed by everyone. Wouldn’t it just make things so much more beautiful? And don’t do this expecting gratitude. Even if the other person acted like a complete moron and didn’t appreciate your gesture, rest assured someone else will. As they say a good deed never goes unnoticed.

While I was musing over chivalry, my friend Neeraj (who was sitting beside me) got up & vacated his seat for a lady :) . And oh boy!! Wasn’t that impressive? I don’t know whether it mattered or not but I made sure he knew how much I appreciated it.

Time and again

2006-02-28T15:12:00.000+05:30

After searching heaven and hell, I have finally zoomed on a topic about which I can scribble something and maybe people would be interested in reading through it too. It’s an experience I have had time & again. And every time it happens, I tell myself I am not going to go through it again; enough is ENOUGH, at least not by my own free will. I do have a right to do what I want to do. Don’t I? After all we live in the second largest democracy in the world. Don’t we?

I am talking about exam time. Rings a bell doesn’t it? A big, loud, resounding bell.. I am sure most of you will identify with the nerve wrenching, gut slashing feeling one experiences while taking an exam… any exam. After all an exam is an exam. PERIOD.

During my engineering days, I (like so many other techies-to-be) used to suffer from the last-minute/exam-eve-preparation syndrome. I always used to start preparing for the exam the day before or rather the night before. Used to stay awake till wee hours (thank god the exams were generally held in the afternoon), tried to cram up a whole semester in just a few hours, write the paper and then pray, pray & pray.

And after each & every exam I used to make a resolution to myself. No more last minute studying.. I’ll start being attentive in the class, stop passing chits & gossiping while a lecture is going on. I’ll do my assignments diligently, get my doubts cleared at the start so that they don’t pile up like Mt. Etna and then erupt one day. The bottom-line was to be prepared. But alas this resolution remained a resolution and remains so till this date.

Memories of my engineering days came rushing back to me when I had to appear for a domain certification this Saturday. It was nothing like I had it was a mandatory certification or so. I just applied for it on an impulse. Got a mail from our PM asking for nominations and I just raised my hands in response. Little did I know that domain certification is very different from engineering exams? Engineering used to be fun. Being back benchers in the class, attending funny lectures & even funnier lecturers, bunking classes, putting proxy attendance for friends, copying assignments( guess the original assignment was done by some guy way back in '80s or something), doing combined group study where the output followed the 80-20 principle. Even after studying for 80% of the day, we couldn’t even effectively cover 20% of the syllabus. Engineering was the sum total of all these mutually exclusive but still totally dependent activities. This all used to make even the last day preparation rewarding. Concentration was higher and hence the result was better. Those were tension free days. Not like now when I need to worry abt a lot of things including rent, electricity/water bill, traffic, appraisal, onsite opportunities and to top it all WORK!!

Those were some days.. Sigh. On second thoughts.. no.. no second thoughts.. would not trade those days for the world. If I had to relive those days, I know I’ll do the same things in the exact similar way. Heard a saying..? It goes something like this – “Be what you are & do what you feel. If GOD had wanted you otherwise, HE would have created you otherwise.”
I’ll sign-off on that note. Have fun!! ;-)

Add-to-the-decibels

2006-02-07T21:52:00.000+05:30

This is my first ever blog. A lot of hue & cry is being made regarding blogs now-a-days. So I thought lets add to the decibels. :)

Had tried my hands in maintaining a journal when I was a kid but could never make regular entries into it. Soon it took a backseat and then one fine day the idea just kinda vanished into thin air. Lets see how long I can maintain its new-age avataar.

Haven't got any clue as to what all I'll be writing in the blogs though. My life is just as ordinary as that of any ordinary software professional. Working in one of those BIG software companies. Forced to strive 24/7 to prove that the attitude reflected by "Rome was not/(could not be) built in a day" is soooooo wrong. Wish my boss was the architect/planner, she would have easily made sure that it was indeed built in a day with time spared for review & rework. ;-)

Your love is... by ChibiMarronchan
Your name is...
Your kiss is...	delicious
Your hugs are...	to die for
Your eyes...	twinkle in the moonlight
Your touch is...	heart warming
Your smell is...	refreshing
Your smile is...	hypnotising
Your love is...	unique

My Life.. My Thoughts..

Checked my blog......

Mrityunjay - Review

Political Rants..

New Year @ Home

If I were..

October reading..

I am back..with a Tag

The 'moral' drama

Another Tag by Amu

A year to remember

D(iwali) Day

Congratulations on the 20!!

Enjoying the rain

Celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi

My food blog

Picture Tag

Marriage and yours truly

A lengthy Tag

Bye Bye Bangalore!

A Special Holi!!

Unveiling me..

Valentine's Day!!

First Post – A wedding post

A picture says more than..

Travelogue - GOA - Day1

Thoughts of a guest blogger

My Love is..

19 Questions

Good things are being said about you..

How Sweet Are You?

Which Sholay Character Are You?

What Animal Were You In Your Past Life?

What one word embodies you?

Zodiac et al.

Another tag.. again by Amu

8 things - Tagged by Amu

The ball is rolling

Here is a girl

Jodhaa Akbar

A human shadow

How is it that..

My best friend's wedding - I

A promise fulfilled

What being "Me" entails..

20 Questions -- Tagged by Amu

Aaja Nachle

More about me, me and ofcourse me..

The change in me

The "Loving" yours truly.. ;-)

Super (wo)man!!

Behind the steering wheel

Mind speak Vs Mind games

Picture Blog

Here are 10 Things..

Trip to NY/ Niagara - First things first

Dreams

I'll be seeing you

Analyze this ;-)

Travel Bug

Finally a century!!

Here's more about me: --

The "To-Do-Before My Next B'de" list

Disappointed....

Snow and Ice

One month & running....

First Flight

End of an era

Indian Coffee House

Main Lafzon Mein Kuch Bhi Izhar Nahi Karta.....

Lord of the Rings: Been there and back again

Chivalry - Slow Death?

Time and again

Add-to-the-decibels